Under the V e g a s Skies
by Stream'sxCupxOfxTea
Summary: As two people with tortured pasts collide, things change between them. In a desperate endeavor to seek acceptance in one another, they may happen to stumble upon love, hope, and happiness. Previously known as V e g a s Skies by myonewish.
1. Chapter One

** No Way, Another Sasuke? (Siblings Apparently Look Alike)**

XxX

Sweat dripped from my forehead, running down my cheek to land on the gym floor beneath my feet. I was nearly out of breath, but still I crouched down into a defensive position as I prepared to fight for what the man in front of me had.

He was almost out of breath, too. One cool bead of sweat ghosted over his chin, dropping down to the floor. Despite the exhaustion, his dark eyes were locked in a fierce determination that accurately mirrored my own. His eyes swept around me, the soft _thud _of the basketball reverberating through the empty gym as he calculated his next move.

I tensed the muscles in my legs, prepared to strike like a cobra the second he made a move. And... wait for it... there it was! A slight narrowing of his eyes, his unconscious signal told me what was about to go down.

He darted forward then, but I knew better than probably anyone else in the world that _the _Uchiha Sasuke would never try such a direct approach. We were exact opposites when it came to things like that.

So it came as no surprise when he tried to fake me out by banking left at the last second. But I bet surprised _him_ - he went to shoot, the ball rolling off the tips of his fingers only to be met by and overzealous hand movement that slammed it back into the ground with vigor and purpose.  
Of course, a normal person wouldn't have done that with quite as much enthusiasm as I just had. But this was _Uchiha Sasuke_! Mr. Perfect-In-Every-Frigging-Way. And I just managed to block _his _shot!

"Hn," he said, noting the sparkle I can only assume was present in my eyes. "Dobe."

And there it was. He's always gotta shoot me down! "Come on, you can't just let me bask in my moment of glory teme?"

"I don't think a single blocked shot is a reasonable cause for a celebration."

"Aw, now don't be like that!" I said, tossing my arm around his shoulder as we made our way to the locker room, "You're just pissed that I'm finally better than you."

"Ha," he actually allowed a small smile to grace his features as he slipped out from under my loose grip to take a sip from his water bottle, "In your dreams, moron. And don't touch me."

I just rolled my eyes at him, knowing his stupid pride wouldn't allow him to verbally admit that he was impressed with my skill. But I knew he secretly was. Even Sasuke himself may not know that he was impressed with me. But I could tell. There's no hiding things from Uzumaki Naruto!

I moved into the attached showering area, grabbing my clothes and a towel along the way so that I didn't have to make the trek back to the gym lockers stark naked again, like I had the other day. Man, _that _had been embarrassing. I mean, no one was there, since it was early in the morning and all, but still! It just felt so wrong, walking around a section of the school (despite the fact that the locker rooms are their own isolated section of said school) in all of my glory. Like, here I am world, look at me!

I suppose it's a bit like having sex in a church - you just don't do it. Pushing that extremely random and repulsive thought out of my mind, I undressed and turned on the shower to wash away the stickiness of the sweat covering my body.

Workouts like this were always intense. Sasuke and I had been coming to the school gym early in the mornings for two years now, but only in the few weeks before basketball season started up. To get some extra practice in and such. At first, it started out as and even _more _intense rivalry than we have now. back in freshman year he had rubbed me the wrong way right from the start. He just, you know, _sat _there and took up space! Nothing bothers me more than people who don't really seem to have a purpose. Not to mention the fact that ALL the girls in school seemed to adore him. For no apparent reason I would like to add.

Sasuke didn't do anything (well, he still doesn't do anything). At all. He was broody, and Mr. Popular, but he still never said anything. So I called him out on it a few times, and he ignored me for a while. But then he started to fight back, somehow sports got dragged into it. I seriously couldn't believe his arrogance; he really thought he could own _me, _Uzumaki Naruto, in basketball. Ha, as if!

...Well, he actually _did _beat me in a one-on-one. But I _so _demanded a rematch. It was just luck on his part, after all. So that's when we went to Coach Gai to ask if we could use the gym before school on Monday morning. He said of course we could, and then he spewed something about how he was glad we were embracing our youthful nature or some other crap like that. Honestly, I learned to tune out Bushy-Eyebrows Senior a long, long time ago. The second the word 'youthful' comes out of his mouth, my ears decide to take a break.

But anyways,I lost the second match too. So I challenged him again, for Wednesday. That was a loss as well. Now, I wasn't just gonna throw in the towel when it came to a bastard like Sasuke, so I challenged him again, for the following Monday that time. After a declaration like that, he just turned to me with that bastard-like smirk on his face and said, "You know what? Fine. I'll take you on any day of the week, dobe. Next Monday, the Monday after that, and every other day following. You know why? Because I know you'll lose."

But that last year. Wow, it seems like forever ago now... so long in fact, that I can't even remember when our relationship went from being hostile towards each other to being friends. Ever since that day, we came to the gym in the mornings, every Monday and Wednesday, just like he said. And for a while, I did keep losing to him. But those losses just pushed me further and further... I worked my ass off doing it, but I was finally able to keep up with him. No longer was he all high-and-mighty, I-The-Only-Good-Player-On-This-Team. So when time came along to try out for the school team, I sure as hell wasn't just going to sit back and let him get all the attention. We tried out and, even though it was only the freshman team, it was obvious we were good. Now, here we are, already on the JV team. I guess... that's when my animosity shifted.

Even though we were rivals, we were also on a team. And I couldn't let my selfish thoughts consume me during a game - even though he was the one I wanted to go up against, he wasn't my enemy on that court. And I guess, when I stepped back for a second, I saw how well he managed the team, and how well he worked with others. Admitting it to myself back then would have been about as enjoyable as shoving a rusty nail in my eye socket, but I guess I... sort of respected him. And I could tell, underneath all of that bastardness, that he respected me too.

I turned off the water and grabbed the towel I had placed on the nearby rack. I quickly put it over my head and shook it, drying my blond locks before drying off the rest of my body. Then I quickly put on my (clean) set of clothes before heading back into the locker room where my backpack was located. I shoved my sweaty garments back in my designated gym locker, making a mental note to take them home to be washed after practice today. There was absolutely no way I would be able wear them any longer than that, knowing everything they had been through. The thought was just repulsive even for a boy like myself.

Pulling my backpack from its place within the locker, I flung it over my shoulder as I walk towards one of the only two exits available in this room - this one being the one leading to the hallway. I stopped walking when I saw a freshly-showered Sasuke leaning against the door, effectively blocking this available escape route. That could only mean one thing... I checked my watch just to be sure. Yep, three minutes before the school officially opened. All of the doors - minus the gym doors, which we were given a key to be able to access from the outside - were on an automatic lock system. At exactly seven thirty, all of them would unlock simultaneously. Until then, entrance was virtually impossible without a key. And seeing as how the one we had only worked for the the boys locker room and the double doors that connected the gym to the outside world, we weren't going anywhere until that bell rang.

Did I ever mention that Sasuke almost _never _talked? Ever? Well, there you have it. He doesn't. And for me, someone who craves conversation and utterly despises silence for a number of reasons, these three minutes were pure torture.

But of course, we were polar opposites in almost everything - not just our speaking habits. He was cool, calm, and had an almost permanent scowl on his face whenever more than one or two people were in the same room as him. Social interaction just wasn't his thing. He was the strong, silent type... Okay, it was beyond silent. Like I said, he just didn't talk, not really saying anything unless it was either a teacher directing a question at him or an opportunity to demean my intelligence. Not that it bothered me; I stopped taking those comments seriously quite a while ago. Just like he didn't feel offended when I called him a bastard. But other than that, he just replied to nearly everything with a varying range of glares or smirks. When a verbal response was absolutely necessary, and not in the same category as the two exceptions above, he gave his signature 'hn'. He gave off the dark, loner vibe and always kept a mask over his emotions. He hid them well around other people, but I knew him well enough to be able to read the subtle things he hid. It sometimes it made me feel special that I was the only one he really talked to, his only real friend. Actually, that having been said, it's safe to say that no one had ever cracked his outer exterior enough to get under his skin, where all of those hidden emotions lived.

That was until I came along. Really, I'm like a walking ray of light. And I swear I'm not being conceited in saying that; I know I am, because that's what I try to be. I reach out to everyone, because I know what it feels like to be alone... and I don't want anybody else to experience that. For that reason alone, I walk around with my emotions playing out on my sleeve for everyone to see. Whereas Sasuke wants to push people away and live in his own little emo bubble, I crave being around my friends and I make sure that I laugh more often than I don't. I'm stubborn, as Sasuke learned the hard way, and that goes hand-in-hand with my unyielding determination to never give up on people. I try to help anyone I can, for no real reason at all. Empathy, maybe? I don't really know. I'm loud, talkative, and basically everything Sasuke would peg as "obnoxious".

But still, somehow we managed to be friends despite all of these differences.

And the difference don't end there. Even our appearances were yin and yang! He was tall, with dark hair, dark eyes, and a pale complexion that offset all of that darkness. And I was pretty sure his wardrobe only consisted of clothes that came in various dark shades of blue, black, and gray. All in all, he was basically the poster child for anti-depressants.

Whereas I, in all of my sun-shininess, have a mop of golden blonde spikes that frame my round face and bright blue eyes. My tan skin offsets those features, making them look even brighter in contrast. On either side of my round face were three whisker-like scars that, oddly enough, are positioned perfectly on both sides. I've constantly looked for a flaw in their formation, but I've yet to find one. See, even my _flaws_ are amazing. And our styles were totally different as well - Sasuke always tells me that I must be colorblind to be able to walk around with so much orange on and not be embarrassed about it. Well, he has no right to knock orange (a.k.a., the most amazing color to ever exist) when the colors he wore made him look like a child on constant suicide watch.

Just then, the _'diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing' _of the school 'bell' (which was really only an extremely high-pitched beep that dragged on for a couple of seconds) pulled me from my thoughts and I watched as Sasuke turned around to open the door he was leaning on.

Moving out into the hallway, we knew that by no means would we be the only people filtering in. Class started in fifteen minutes, and the majority of the student body filtered in at the remaining thirty seconds of that time, but there _were_ still people who managed to make it in with time to spare. Like my good friend Kiba, who was walking down th- waitwaitwhat? _Kiba?_ No way! He was never here this early!

"Hey man, what's up?" I heard him say, but I still couldn't believe that dog-boy was here. In school. Before he needed to be. Was the world ending? Apparently the shock was evident in my expression because he smirked before answering my silent question, "If that blank look on your face is there because you're surprised to see me this early, it's just 'cause I got up and couldn't get back to sleep." he shrugged nonchalantly before continuing, "So I decided to show up a little earlier to see how your match with Emo Princess over there went."

Only a year ago, Sasuke wouldn't have taken too kindly to Kiba's comment. He would have probably sent a glare his way that would either

A: freeze all of his inner workings

B: make him cry, running away screaming for his mother in a very un-dignified way,

or

C: both of the above.

Many other possibilities could have been considered, but I didn't really want to dwell on any of those thoughts... But Sasuke was so used to it now that it probably didn't even register in his mind. Shaking my shock away that Kiba was fully awake before _noon_, I told him _exactly _how practice with the teme went down. "Ha, I kicked his ass, of course. What else would you expect from Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Idiot," Sasuke said, sending a glare my way. Okay, so fine, maybe I stretched the truth a _little._ "You only blocked one shot."

"Yeah, well you didn't score either!"

"That's because your giant empty head kept getting in my way."

"Hey, at least it's good for something," Kiba cut it, ruffling my hair like I was one of the puppies at the pound his family takes care of. I narrowed my eyes and attempted to scowl at the two of them, but it didn't really work out. I mean, with a face as cute as mine, I definitely couldn't pull of the icicle-up-the-ass look as well as Sasuke could. Hell, if there was at least _one _thing I was going to give him credit for, it'd be for always managing to look like something died in his anus and refused to come out. Nobody but him would be able to keep that expression permanently plastered on their face with that much skill. But, just as you guessed, that mask always slipped when I was around - then the real Sasuke, the fun Sasuke (who was about as fun as a wagon with no wheels. But hey, it's a start) would come out and he'd joke and act a little bit like a semi-normal teenager. Kind of. Maybe. A little bit.

But, I guess I could give him some more credit... I'd never say this out loud, though. He wouldn't take it too kindly, and my pride would take a huge, bigger-than-the-sun blow, but there _are _some things that I really -gag- admire about the kid. As much as I make fun of him and tell him he needs some anti-depressants to take away his emoness, I think I'm more impressed that he never actually _needed _them. He told me that, after his parents were killed in a robbery-gone-wrong, everything in his life went downhill. I got the short version of it, but I didn't pry for details because I could tell that it... talking about it actually _hurt_ him. And to see someone so strong, so reserved, come so close to tears was a... a really humbling experience, to say the least.

Plus, it's only fair... because I never told him about my past either. Some things are better left behind us; I can understand what he's going through. I still make fun of him and his anti-social ways, but there's a huge difference between being _antisocial _and being _detached. _And, thinking back, he was definitely _detached _during those first few weeks of school. If I was being honest with myself, I'd even say he looked depressed. Hell, I of all people, would be able to tell. Not that I'd ever admit that fact... But really, that's why I really revered his strength - no matter how hard he fell, he found the strength to get back up on his own. I'd like to think he had a little help from me, but the teme would never say something like that out loud so I'd never know for sure.

Either way, I could tell he was finally starting to heal. Like I said, for those first few weeks... he didn't even respond to my taunts. After a few days, I just thought he was deaf. That was until he lashed out at _me _one day, breaking away from his silent, stoic mode if only for a second. From then on, knowing I could crack that shell of his, I continued to pester him until it gouged a reaction out of him. It was basically the only way I knew how to interact with people... to be loud and rude and to try and get everyone to notice me. Well hey, it worked.

"Dobe? Anybody home?" I blinked furiously to push away the thoughts that figuratively clouded my vision to see a pale hand waving in front of my face. "Oh, good," he said as soon as cognition appeared on my features, "For a second I thought what was left of your brain had turned to mush. The bell rang two minutes ago." I looked down at the books in my hands, then up at the clock, then back down and up again as if trying to process what was going on. Where had the day gone? Was I really on my way to the last class of the day already...? Funny, I don't even remember anything from today. Eh, Mondays tend to have that affect on me.

"Oh... Right, I knew that."

Sasuke scoffed, but gathered his books and started to move for the door anyway. Still in a daze, I did the same. As soon as I left, that's when I realized I was heading towards the art room. And suddenly the fog completely lifted and I found myself walking with a slight bounce in my step down the hallway.

You see, it was the middle of January(or beginning, or end; one of those three. The first month of the new year always just blur into one long, gray Monday for me). Which meant only one thing - the start of the new semester. I had my schedule re-done, but not much changed. In fact, the only difference was that one of my study hall periods had been switched out for the place I was headed to now. I don't know if it was just because our principal, Tsunade, had it out for me or what, but the dumbfucks who arranged my schedule didn't include art in my first semester class assignments. And since art is the only class I've actually _liked,_ you could probably picture how pissed I was when they tried to pin it on _me. _Saying stuff like 'Oh, blah blah, you didn't get your class selection sheet in soon enough blah blah and the class was filled'. Yeah, like I'd buy that bowl of crap.

But whatever, no sense in getting mad at the advisors now. I was on my way to my favorite class, and nothing would've stopped the grin that spread across my face at that knowledge.

"Ah, Naruto," a calm voice said as I entered the room, "What a pleasure to have you back in my class." I couldn't tell... but I think he might have meant that to be slightly sarcastic.

"Yo, Sasori-sensei!" I threw up my hand and waved to my stoic teacher, the eyes of everyone in the room turning to see who'd made such an entrance.

Sasori just shook his mop of bright red hair slowly before looking back up at me. "I see you haven't gotten any quieter."

I smiled sheepishly before scratching the back of my head with my free hand. Then I made my way to an empty seat in front of an easel, placing my other books on the floor beside my seat. Sasori talked a little about thinking about entering a piece for the annual Winter Arts Showcase, which reminded me that I really needed to get moving! The date was closer than I thought; only the end of February! If I wanted to get something good in, I'd have to kick it into gear. There was no way I'd miss a chance to show off my amazing artwork.

Yeah, I was good, and yeah, I'm okay with saying that. I'd been into painting and drawing ever since I was young, and just loved it. Art was a way to let go, to free myself from everything going on and just delve into my own little world. I painted with feeling and emotion, giving myself completely to the canvas. And I didn't like people viewing my work because I enjoyed my ego being stroked, I did it because... well, all art is something that each person sees differently. A single person may look at all of my emotions splayed out on the canvas and connect it to something in their own life. That's what I want - for people to be able to see that my emotions are telling a story through the colors.

Speaking of which...

"Art is an explosion of emotions, yeah!"

"Idiot. Art is about telling a story by visual means."

"Yes, with _feeling_!"

"No, as long as the story is told accurately, no one cares about 'explosive feelings'."

"How 'bout I burn your art and we'll see how much of a story it tells then, yeah?"

"Oh, it'll tell a story alright. A story about a delirious blond idiot with a speech impediment who went _tragically _missing."

Ah, how I truly missed this class last semester... Sasori and Deidara, the other art teacher (Deidara works with 3-D art, Sasori works more with the painting/drawing/ect), always broke out into arguments like this. Since both of the art rooms were connected through a side door, the walls were consequently thinner and Deidara often would overhear Sasori. To which he would then enter through said door and correct him on whatever he could possibly find to correct him on. But no matter what his reason for coming into the room was, they'd always have the same conversation anyway. 'My art is better!' 'No, mine!' 'Feeling over story!' 'Story over feeling!' It was comical, really. They just couldn't see that art could be both; and I tried my hardest to incorporate both ideals into my work everyday. Which caused many more fights between the two; Sasori arguing that my work told a story while Deidara said it had emotion.

But while they constantly (I think that bears repeating- _constantly_) argued, I could tell that they secretly respected each other underneath it all. They held each other in the highest respects, though neither would ever outright admit that. ...Kind of like me and the teme.

Realizing my eraser had worn out, I removed myself from my seat and made my way to a table off to the side that held all the essential artist's supplies. I quickly snagged another eraser, choosing that option over grabbing a whole other pencil. Having gotten what I came for, I turned around on my back heal and-

What the hell? What was Sasuke doing here...?

No. There's no way that's Sasuke. But it looks _just _like him! And really, he's even off in the corner all by himself!

...Come to think of it... he really _does _resemble Sasuke...But it's not the Sasuke I know now.

No, this kid looks just like Sasuke did... back when I first met him.

**A/N: Yes, there were a couple minor changes. Please don't kill me. And, as with myonewish, reviews are much loved. Because they make me feel like my writing is actually worth reading.**


	2. Chapter Two

**Ever Play 20 Questions? (Trying To Get An Uchiha To Talk)**

XxX

So I kinda felt bad (and kinda weird) about staring, but the boy didn't seem to notice at all. Or if he did notice, he didn't mind.

But now, looking closer... he and Sasuke didn't really look that alike at all. This boy's hair was a darker shade of black, whereas Sasuke's looked a tiny bit more blue (as strange as that may sound). His hair was also pulled back into a loose ponytail at the base of his neck, while Sasuke's style strongly resembled a duck's ass. And his skin, although still extremely pale, seemed to hold slightly more color than Sasuke's did. The boy also had creases below his eyes that gave the appearance that he hadn't had a good night's sleep since who-knows-when (or maybe they were tattoos. Or something). The shape of his face kind of resembled Sasuke's, and he also had bangs that framed either side of his face, which is probably why he had caught my attention. Okay, so they didn't look exactly alike, but there were definitely similarities between Sasuke and Mystery-Man.

Upon closer inspection though, the similarities were few... Totally there, but not as intensely as I had first thought. Honestly, I can't believe I was stupid enough to mistake him for the bastard! Though there was something there... something that... looked a little like... damn, what is it? Can't... put my finger on it...

There was undeniably _something_ that had caught my attention! But for the life of me, I can't remember what it was that made him look so much like Sasuke! Not the hair... not the face, though they hold similarities... not the skin, even if they're only a few shades apart... not the eyes-

No, wait. That's it. His _eyes._

Black as the darkest night; kinda reminded me of that bottomless I always dream about falling into. You know, those dreams where you wake up with a start when you think you've hit the bottom? Now take that feeling of falling, and not knowing when you're going to hit the bottom, and transfer that into a pair of black, soulless eyes. The depth went far beyond superficial - even a blind person would be able to see that this kid's eyes had seen many things, things that someone our age probably shouldn't be subjected to. And _that's _what caught my attention - Sasuke has that look, too. The dark, unforgiving glare from eyes like his would be enough to scare anybody - except me, that is.

Now that I figured it out... maybe they did kind of look alike, after all. But, Sasuke couldn't have a relative here without me knowing! Because of course I would know if he did. I always see him go home alone, and no siblings, cousins, or any family for that matter, have ever come up in our conversations.

If he had a relative here, surely I'd know about it.

...Right?

Suddenly, I didn't feel so sure anymore.

But, realizing that I looked like more of an idiot than everyone already assumed I was just standing in front of the supply table holding nothing more than an eraser, I quickly made my way back to my seat. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed that I just had one of my rare contemplative moments in the middle of the classroom.

My mind simply shrugged off the thoughts of the dark-haired boy, deeming them unimportant and time-consuming when I had an Arts Showcase to prepare for.

Only two months to go... and with basketball... ugh. This may be harder than I thought it would be.

XxX

The rest of the week passed by in a blur, much like Monday itself had. Because of the way our schedules rotated, I didn't have art the following day... and mixed with the stress from basketball practice that day, I was pretty antsy. Coach Gai didn't like that too much (youghfullness= good. Two much energy=bad) and told me I had to loosen up to perform well in our upcoming game on Friday. Which, of course, made me even more stressed. Two months may seem like a long enough time to create an acceptable piece, but in my mind anything can happen in that time - the uncertainty of the situation was making me want to use up every available second of my time, not allowing any of it to go to waste. So the fact that I didn't get any time on Tuesday to work on it had me on edge, thinking I had even less time before that quickly approaching deadline hit me like a ton of bricks - which, in reality, I did.

The irrational stress had Gai blowing my ears off all throughout practice that day.

And on the day following that, Sasuke and I had another one of our one-on-one morning training sessions. It was particularly intense, since it'd be our last chance to train together alone before the game. I was so worn out that I couldn't focus for the life of me when I had art first period that day. Realizing I had wasted yet another day to make some progress on my piece didn't really settle too well with me - which, yeah, you guessed it, it just stressed me out some more.

Thursday was probably the only day that I actually got some work done - since art was second period, it was in the perfect time for me to organize all my ideas and transfer some of them to the canvas. They weren't completely as good as I'd wanted them to be, but it was definitely a start - at least my creativity was starting to kick in again after being dormant for a while, and that was always a good thing. But my good mood went away once school ended and practice started again.

Gai was even more demanding this time. He was totally freaking out and yelling at us for every single misstep or missed shot; the pressure of the upcoming game was really getting to him. And since _he _was so stressed, it made all of _us _stressed too. I went home last night and didn't get a lick of sleep, my head so consumed with thoughts of the game and my work, neither of which would allow me even a minute of peace and quiet.

My stress had carried into today as well, and it seemed that I only began to calm down when I entered the art room third period. Sure, my thoughts were blurry and fogged over with thoughts of sleep, but I sure as hell felt my stress ebb away slowly as soon as my pencil hit the paper. It didn't even matter what I was drawing; just the process was enough to calm me down.

Which was why I was on my way there now.

I had asked Sasori after class if it would be alright if I came after school, and he said he didn't have a problem with it at all. The only thing he mentioned was that he he had somewhere to be and wouldn't be back for at least an hour, but he trusted me and said he'd leave the door unlocked anyway. Fine by me; not only would I get the chance to make some headway on my ideas, and loosen up before the game tonight, but I'd also get to do it in complete silence without the thought of someone constantly looking over my shoulder. Sasori was one of my favorite teachers, but with him in the room I'd just... I don't know, feel like I was being watched. That situation wouldn't really help my ever-fluctuating level of stress.

And as much as I hated silence, it was completely necessary for my sanity right now.  
The hallways were all empty by now - hey, it was Friday, and kids really had places to go and people to see. I guess only a loser like me would actually _choose _to remain in school longer than absolutely necessary.

Well, since no one's here to see... I flipped my backpack around so I could access the front pocket. Doing so while walking was harder than I thought it would be, so I stopped for a moment as I dug through my useless crap to pull out what I was looking for (which took an annoying long time) until: yes! Finally found the frigging thing.

After zipping the pocket back up and shifting my position so my backpack would make its way back onto my back, I unraveled the white earphones from my blue iPod Nano. It was after school; no one would really care if they happened to see me with it.

I just shook it lightly and let the songs shuffle, turning the volume up as I bobbed my head in time to the music. Honestly, I didn't care if it made me look like an idiot: I was having fun, and I would dance down this empty hallway with all of the dignity I could possibly muster in a situation like this!

As I was attempting to dance my way to Sasori's classroom, I was about to pass by Deidara's and decided I could at least stop in and say hi. As I made my way to the door though, I looked through the little window to see that the lights were off. Huh, that was weird... maybe there was some meeting that all the art teachers had to attend or something. Yeah, that had to be it.

Shrugging it off, I just continued on my way.

I turned the handle to see that Sasori really had left it unlocked, true to his word. Still moving to the beat of the song, I pushed the door open and danced my way over the my usual spot. I put my backpack down and turned towards the supply table to gather the necessary supplies. Now I was humming to myself, and I had to thank whatever God was up there that no one was around to hear. I couldn't hear myself over the song playing in my ears, but Sasuke has made it a point to let me know how tone-deaf I am on numerous occasions. Well, screw the Emo Uchiha! When I'm alone, I'll sing if I damn want to!

And on that note (literally), I belted out a particularly high one that _definitely_ had some window-breaking potential. Quite pleased with my work, and since I had grabbed all the things I needed, I spun around to make my way back to my seat when-

Wow, this situation felt oddly familiar. I was now cursing whatever God was up there.

"Holy shit!" I managed to gasp out as I saw the other person sitting in the corner. Never, _ever_ has the shit been scared so completely out of me in my _entire_ life. And I've seen some pretty scary things. But this one completely took that cake.

I stumbled backwards and my back met the table, but still I attempted fruitlessly to scramble further backwards. I could feel my eyes open as wide as saucers and my mouth gasping for air as my hand clutched itself over the spot on my chest where my heart was attempting to beat itself right outside of my ribcage.

The other boy, however, just lazily moved his head to look up at me for a moment before they returned to his work. No. Effing. Way. Was he there the whole freaking time? "You- I- you weren't- holy-fucking-shit-I-had-no-idea-anyone-was-here!" I said it so fast that It all sounded like one word all mushed together.

"I could tell," he deadpanned, not even looking up at me. He was probably referring to that high note I just let out. Damn, so much for thinking I was alone... He really didn't seem to care at all though. His focus remained in front of him, on his work the whole time.

"Well, you...why didn't you say anything?" I gasped out. "You could have, you know, warned me or something! Or said 'hi'! Just to let me know!" Still transfixed on his work, the boy did nothing more that shrug lightly in response. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion, the initial shock having worn off. "And, and what are you doing here anyway? Does Sasori-sensei know-?"

"I come here every day."

Lovely. I was lucky enough to be graced with a five-word answer. That he _cut me off _to say, no less. There was a hint of finality in it as well that said 'please shut up, you're annoying me'. Well you know what? Good. I'm going to keep annoying him, because Uzumaki Naruto is _not _upstaged by bastards like this! If I have to be in the same room as him for the next hour, it is most definitely not going to be time spent in awkward silence.

"You still could have let me know or something. Save me the heart attack."

Finally, he looked up at me with dark, blank eyes in a way that that I'm sure could be mistaken for a glare that said 'shut the hell up' if they weren't so emotionless. I would have probably pissed myself, or at least come close to it, if his eyes didn't look so completely _empty_. Finally after a moment or so, I heard a soft "Hn," before he looked back down at his sketchpad.

My mouth opened wide again, and my eyes followed suit. There was no mistaking that "hn". No one but Uchihas made that noise. Which had to mean...

And with that, all doubt was removed. "No way...," I said, moving closer. Which I assume he wasn't too pleased about, by the way his eyes zeroed in on his work. But I just couldn't help it. It was just too much to refute; no matter how small they were before, the similarities were too hard to ignore this time around. Pale skin, dark eyes, black hair, short responses... it just... there really was just no denying it."You guys _are _related, aren't you?" I asked, turning my head to the side in thought as I looked over his features.

Again, Mystery-Man didn't seem amused. Rather annoyed actually. Well, as annoyed as he could possibly look without a hint of light in his expression.

Instead of asking a question like a normal person, he simply glared at me expectantly.

"You and... I mean, I know this may sound weird... but, you _really _remind me of Sasuke!" I said. His expression didn't change at all, so it kind of felt weird... I mean, maybe he didn't hear me, or maybe he just thought I was some weird kid who just asked him a strange question or something. That last one happens quiet often, according to Sasuke's reports. The former? Not so much. But just in case, I rephrased, "I mean, like, are you-?"

"Brothers," he cut me off _(again) _to say with finality. Another one-word answer. He looked back down at his work, a silent hint to tell me to go away. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't know that I don't take too well to hints. In fact, I'm very proficient at ignoring them completely. It's a skill I've been perfecting for many long years.

"Why can't you give normal answers?"

"I'm working." Really? Really? You were working? I would have **never **been able to tell.

But seriously, that was the last straw. I mean, this guy acted so much like Sasuke it wasn't even funny. And, just like with Sasuke, there was no way I was just going to walk away with my tail between my legs like he wanted me to do. No - much to his distaste, I pulled out a chair near him and plopped down into it. "What's your name?"

"I don't see why you need to know."

"What is it?"

"That's not your-"

"Just tell me," I said, cutting _him_ off this time.

I was met with a hard(ish) glare as he tried to stare me down for a little while. But what Sasuke's-Unnamed-Older-Brother didn't know was that I was already immune to the Uchiha glare. Plus, he was actually reacting to my comments. That means we were getting somewhere...right?

"Itachi," he said after a moment. But again, he just looked back down at his work after he answered.

"Why hasn't Sasuke said anything about you?"

"I don't know."

"How come I haven't seen you around here before?"

"I'm in your art class." This guy was clearly a genius; nothing escaped him.

"Well yeah, I know _that_. I meant before that."

"Not my concern."

Okay, this was getting _really _irritating. Seriously, this guy didn't budge for _anything_. Not even Sasuke was this hard to crack... "What's your favorite color?"

"Don't have one."

"What are you drawing?"

"None of your business."

"Can I see?"

"No."

"Are you going to enter it in the Winter Showcase?"

"I don't see why it would matter."

"You realize I'm not going to stop until you actually answer my questions, right?"

"I had assumed as much."

"So why are you still being difficult? Maybe if you answer I'll go away."

"Clearly that wouldn't happen even if hell froze over first."

"What? Me going away, or you actually answering?" And finally, he ceased all movement. Not even his hand was gliding across the paper fluently anymore. Finally! A reaction of sorts.

"Both."

I snorted, leaning back in my chair and folding my arms across my chest, "Well you're right about one thing; I _won't _be going away. Not until you actually answer me, that is. So you'd have to actually talk to get me to go away. The cycle will have to break eventually."

There was a light pause where Itachi began moving his hand back across the pad. "Hn."

Again, my eyebrows pulled together. "You know, I got through to Sasuke. I'll get through to you, too. Uzumaki Naruto never gives up, and you'll figure that out soon enough!"

A ghost of a smirk appeared on Itachi's face. It kind of looked faded, weighed down... surreal almost. "Uzumaki Naruto, huh?"

"Yup!" I stood up and pushed my thumb proudly into my chest. "That's my name, don't wear it out!"

"I had no intention of doing so." he took a moment to flip the angle of his sketchpad to better access an area of the paper before speaking again, "Now, assuming you're here for a reason other than to waste my time, I suggest you do whatever it is you came here to do and leave me be."

I scowled when I realized that he was right - I really should get to work before time runs out. But still, admitting he was right (which meant I actually had to concede defeat - something I absolutely _despise_ doing with every fiber of my being) was hard for me to do. So, instead of saying anything, I just addressed his statement with a scowl as I stalked away to my seat. I actually _did _have work I needed to do...

Plus, I came here to _remove _my stress before going into the game. Not to sit here and plot the many ways I could potentially get Itachi back for making me do something as horrid as _give in._

Xxx

I actually got a lot done while I was there. My ideas flowed more freely in the secluded environment, so I made a lot of progress and vowed to come back another day whenever I felt my anxiety take over next. The whole experience was just really refreshing.

And, oddly enough, I didn't feel paranoid with Itachi there. I thought I would have been with Sasori, thinking he was always looking over my shoulder to see what I was working on. But with Itachi, I didn't that feeling at all. It almost seemed as if he... couldn't care about it less. Which I'm pretty sure is the case. I just find that weird... you'd think he'd at least be curious, right? I mean, _I_ wanted to be nosy and just see what he was working on. Was the feeling not reciprocated?

Huh... maybe Uchihas were just immune to an emotion as petty as curiosity.

Altogether, Itachi's company went beyond just quiet seclusion. He seemed rather... despondent. There were times when I forgot he was even there to begin with! And yeah, I know that must sound horrible, but really... he was even quieter than Sasuke. Honestly, no matter how alike they may seem to be, there were definitely a lot of differences between the two of them. I just... can't put my finger on exactly what's different between the two.

Even when I called back to him as I was leaving, giving my signature, "See ya," I didn't get more than a lazy, detached nod from him. He didn't even look up, but I can't say I'm surprised about that.

But enough of that; it was finally showtime.

"Dobe," I heard Sasuke call from ahead of me, breaking me from my reverie. "Try not to get in the way, alright?"

I matched his smirk with a flashing smile of my own, extending my arm and bending it upwards so my hand lay as an open invitation between our faces. "Only if you promise to actually do some work so I don't have to save your sorry ass."

He looked at my hand for a second as his smirk widened before grasping it. The slap of our hands connecting reverberated through the locker room before we broke it to walk out and meet the rest of the team for pre-game warm-ups.

XxX

Of course, we won. No one had expected any less form a team as good as us.

I played a good game, free of the stress that, just a couple days ago, I had feared would completely take me over.

Maybe I can do this after all.

**A/N: Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I'm basically doing the easy stuff right now, and pumping out all of myonewish's stuff in my own words. I don't think updates will be this often once I actually start writing. I never put disclaimers into my work (I'm already on !), but I didn't make any profit from this story, and I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters.**


	3. Chapter Three

**Your Way With Words Is Through Silence (But I'd Still Like It If You Would Speak)**

XxX

"What exactly are you doing?"

Ignoring his question for the moment, I just continued to do what I was doing and pulled the chair out before plopping down into it. "What, is there a law that says I can't sit here?"

The dark hair boy just narrowed his eyes at me for a moment before turning back to his work in an effort to tune me out. Gotta give him some credit there; not many people would even _try_ to do that because they'd know from personal experience that they wouldn't be likely to succeed. And for him to even bother trying means he must _really_ want me to leave him alone.

Well, unfortunately for him, I never give up when I put my mind to something. This was just another challenge, like with Sasuke - no way am I gonna back down now and give an Uchiha the satisfaction of victory on my behalf. Nuh-uh. No way. Not happening.

"Whatcha workin' on?" I asked him, as I pulled out my own sketchpad.

He answered with something between a grunt and a sigh, which in most cases could be taken as a 'yes', except this wasn't a yes or no question. Annoyed at his response (or lack thereof) I decided to take matters into my own hands. I tried to lean around him to sneak a peak at his work, but felt him stiffen at my intrusion on his personal space. I just ignored it; he brought this upon himself. If he had just answered me like a normal person, we wouldn't be having this problem! "Will you stop?" Itachi asked, his voice still a perfect monotone. "I can't stop you from sitting there, but can you at least leave me alone?"

I just sighed and fell back into my seat like a defeated child would have. Okay, so this plan wasn't working... time for a different approach. "Well, since I'm going to be sitting here for the next hour, I think we should at least make _some _form of conversation. Just as a way to pass the time?"

No response. Damn, this guy was _so_ much worse than Sasuke. As least Emo-Duck-Ass-Hair had a temper, and would eventually get fed up with me. But Itachi really did seem like he didn't care.

"I'm not gonna leave you alone until you talk..." I said in a sing-songy voice, which I'm sure that he didn't particularly enjoy judging by the slight scowl on his face. Eh, whatever. I think we already established my singing is horrible. "If I can't get you to answer my questions, how 'bout you ask me some? That way, you can work, and we can talk, and-"

"Fine." Finally! At least Plan B was getting somewhere. "Why are you sitting here?"

I just shrugged in response. "I don't know. You seemed lonely, and plus I figured you could use a bit of normal human interaction for once in your life. I mean, Sasuke can be about as fun to talk to as a brick wall, don't you think?" He was still looking down at his work, but I looked over to see him nod neutrally. "And because I did the same thing with Sasuke," I admitted, "I kept annoying him until he had a normal reaction and finally started talking. The same will go for you, too!" Somehow...

Still looking at his work, he made that weird sigh/grunt noise again, a half-interested, condescending noise that oozes "_I'm waiting for you to shut up so I can get back to whatever I was doing before you came along and annoyed me."_ We sat in silence for several minutes, and it was getting to the point where I thought Plan B has failed.

Then he spoke. Itachi, I repeat, ITACHI, spoke. "Why do you bother?"

"It's like... a challenge! Or something... I don't know, you guys are both so...so miserable! You need some happiness in your life! A friend or something. Maybe then you wouldn't be so grumpy all the time."

He looked up at me this time, raising an eyebrow on his otherwise emotionless face. "Friend?"

I snorted at the question in his tone. "What, you think you're too cool to have a friend?"

"I was merely suggesting that your method of making friends is a bit questionable."

"Question it all you want." I said, a smile on my face as I continued. "But it worked for Sasuke, didn't it?"

Another non-committal noise; this time a short hum. Man, this was really getting irritating. Why does he insist on being alone? Someone who sits by themselves all day, everyday... you'd think they'd be happy if someone came to keep them company. What was with this guy? "Why do you insist on annoying me? Clearly it will get you nowhere." He didn't say "_Isn't it obvious that you'll never crack me?" _but he was thinking it all the same.

I just shook my head and continued to smile annoyingly. "Nope. You'll see."

There was a moment of silence on Itachi's end, before he spoke up again. "You're very annoying, did you know that?" His voice was monotone, but I got the feeling he was struggling to keep his face straight.

I smiled again with deep pride, earning a semi-questioning look from Itachi. "Yup, I get that a lot! You'd actually be surprised at-"

"No. I assure you; I would definitely not be surprised."

"Well, whatever. I'd rather be loud, obnoxious, and annoying than like... well, depressed and miserable. I mean, I don't care what people think of me anymore - if they think I'm annoying, that's their opinion. I can't change that. Just like, if you think I'm annoying, I can't change the way you see me. But if me being annoying is the only way to get you to talk...," I drawled out, unsure of where I was getting at, "I guess... then it all works out in the end. Or something."

And what did I get from that? You guessed it - another hum/sigh/grunt thing.

"Man, and you say _I'm _annoying! I don't think you realize how irritating that stupid Uchiha grunt thing is!" I complained, making a face to better get my point across.

Itachi looked at me with his eyebrow raised again, but thankfully didn't respond with a grunt just to spite me (Bet you can guess who would have)."Don't you have work to do or something?"

I sighed. I did have work to do - and that was the only thing stopping me from continuing the conversation. I guess he caught another break - but it's alright, I'll have plenty other opportunities to get back at him in the future.

But there had been no need to worry: everything all worked out in the end, because it was during that class period that my piece began to take on a proper shape.

XxX

"Yo, Sasuke," Kiba called back to the silent (emo) boy. "Wanna join us?"

It was really nice of Kiba to extend the offer and all, but there's no way in hell Sasuke would want to come. It's not that he didn't like our group; it was just that we were too _loud _to accommodate his antisocial tendencies. Kiba wasn't as stupid as he looked; he probably knew the answer already too. But it was nice that he was at least opening up the invitation.

Sasuke shook his head: big surprise. "No, I'm gonna head home. I have a lot of homework to do."

"You're _such_ a nerd!" I pestered, hoping that one of these days he'd just give in and tag along. "Come on, homework can wait. Just this once?"

Again, he shook his head. This kid was the only damned person alive who could resist my puppy-dog face - anyone else would have caved in immediately. I pouted some more, but he didn't see it as he grabbed his backpack off the bleacher it was residing on and shouldered it.

"Alright, fine. But we're gonna get you to come one day, whether you're conscious for it or not!" I yelled after his now-retreating frame, and then winced. Today was not one of my better days insult wise.

"Hn." Even from here, I could hear the smirk in his voice, "I'd like to see you try."

"Oh yeah? You just wait and see teme." He turned left as he reached the door, sending a dismissive wave over his shoulder to show that he acknowledged (and ignored) what I had said.

"Naruto," Kiba said when I turned back around. "C'mon, we're gonna be late."

I just nodded and followed Kiba out to his car; he had driven me to school, as per our normal Tuesday ritual, same as last week. and the week before, and the week before, and, oh, you get the picture!

Everyone, myself included, were just too busy on that day. But what normally happens every Tuesday is as follows; Kiba drives me to school, so that after practice is done I can just hitch a ride with him and we go wherever the group decides we're meeting that week. Kiba's a junior; and he loves holding the fact that he has his license and I don't over my head. He also _loves_ to drive around in his super-unnecessarily-flashy sports car which both _looks_ and _is _extremely dangerous. And Kiba drives like a maniac to boot, but somehow always manages to have pinpoint accuracy when it comes to stopping and turning. I was scared shitless at first, but I've learned to trust him with it. By now, if we're driving and a leaf suddenly slaps me in the face going ninety miles an hour, I can handle it like a pro since it's such a common occurrence. Skills; I had amazing adaptation skills.

So anyway, the group - Ino was usually the one to pick the hangout spot, but sometimes TenTen or Lee voiced their opinions as well. And Kiba only went because Hinata was there - he probably wouldn't waste his time with us otherwise, even though we're all close friends with him. And Neji was always forced to attend because of Hinata - Hinata's father, of course, was worried that this was some kind of "stoner's circle" and forced Neji into the 'supervisor' position - he thought he was too cool for us at first but, though he'd never admit it, he'd definitely warmed up to us a bit. At first, even _he _was worried that we'd be a bad influence on his younger cousin - but his opinion was shattered when he found out that we did nothing more than chat like a bunch of little kids at these gatherings.

He'd definitely found a friend in Gaara and Shikamaru as well; though the three of them were normally silent ninety-eight percent of the time, every once in a while I'll see them break off into their own little group to talk about boring stuff that only boring people would enjoy talking about. I loved them dearly, but their conversations were definitely not my thing. Instead, I usually talked with Ino the whole time; TenTen would talk with Lee, while Kiba, of course, would be with Hinata. So Ino was the only one I'd be able to strike a conversation with. Not that I minded; I found that I connected more with Ino anyway. She was strong and had zero-tolerance for bullshit. And I like that. She's headstrong and not afraid to say what she feels, and while others think that's a sign of ignorance, I see it as a strength.

Though don't get me wrong; we didn't stay like this the whole time, branched off in our little groups. All it took was one thing - anything, really - to be exchanged in between us and all of a sudden we would launch an all-out open forum. We'd even taken up the habit of asking random strangers to back up our opinions, no matter what the topic was about.

As a whole, we were loud and obnoxious; everything people expect teenagers to be and everything people hate that teenagers are.

And right now, this is really what I needed. Just a day to relax, with a bunch of my friends and not give a damn what others think about us.

"Hey, where are we meeting today?" I asked Kiba, suddenly aware of the fact that I had no idea where the gathering was taking place.

"The mall." he replied, "We just plan on hanging around the food court, or maybe seeing a movie while we're there."

Confusion lit my features, but it left pretty quickly, only to be followed closely by a wicked smirk. I had completely forgotten that our local mall just had renovations done to add on a movie theater to the uppermost floor. Well, at least I'll know where he'll be if he and Hinata go mysteriously 'missing'.

We pulled into the massive parking lot and found our way to the food court without any difficulty. I stood at the entrance, and just looked around for a second, scanning the crowd... Where were the others?

Oh. Well, now that I see them, I'm bit surprised I missed them in the first place. There they were, directly in front of my line of vision, arguing and causing a scene in the process. Seriously? How the hell had I missed that?

Well, Kiba always _did _say that I was severely lacking in observational skills. He shouldn't be talking though, because he stood just as confused as I was for a second, but I still guess he was kind of right. It really is sad that I had completely overlooked them _twice _before finally spotting them.

"Guys, guys!" I said, rushing up to greet them. Whoa, what_happened_? Ino was standing up, hovering over a cowering Lee, waving curly cheese fries threateningly before him. He looked scared shitless and she looked ready to replace his internal organs with fake cheese and fried potatoes. What did we miss? (I'm gonna guess that Bushy-Eyebrows Junior used the word 'youghfullness' one too many times. Just a guess though.)

Before she could plow the fries into the poor kid's face (which was _clearly _her intent) I reached forward to grab her elbow to stop her in the act. Obviously she hadn't seen me though, so I thought I was going to be awesome, and save the world from Ino's wrath.

Really, I should have been a bit more smart about this... But then again, let's be honest. When have I ever thought before acting on an impulse?

I just _completely _disregarded the fact that she studied karate for eight years, _completely _disregarded the angered state of her being, and _completely disregarded _the deadly weapon she held in her hand - cheese fries.

So, I bet you can figure out what happened next. First, I got the satisfaction of hearing Ino scream like a little girl, just before she whipped around to fend her 'attacker' off with new found determination. The anger in her eyes was almost unfathomable, and that was the last thing I saw before I was overcome with visions of cheese. And damn, she packed a punch! Just that move alone caused me to lose my balance and fall indignantly on my ass. I made a very umanly gasp as the wind was knocked out of me, and I hit the ground, the wind knocked right out of my lungs.

I began the process of removing the food from my face, just as I heard Ino gasp.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry!" she said, forgetting all about whatever happened with Lee.

I just laughed it off:it's not like she _meant_ to do it or anything. I hope. "Yeah, you better be." I laughed, smiling up at her before flicking a remnant of a fry off my face and towards her. She didn't make a comment as it hit her clothes though, and instead bent down to help me remove all the fries from my face and wherever else they landed. Despite being publicly humiliated, as I'm sure people around were laughing at the incident, I really couldn't bring myself to feel embarrassed. Hell, if it were someone else then I know that _I'd _be laughing, so what makes it so different for me? Better to laugh with them and make light of it than waste these moments in regret.

"I'm really, really sorry!" she continued to say, fluttering about to try and clean up the mess as I pulled myself up. "I had no idea it was you!"

I chuckled again, which I'm sure with the added effect of cheese and fries was quite an amusing sight. "Then boy do I feel sorry for the poor soul who tries to make a move on you!"

She just rolled her eyes before running off to the garbage can to dispose of her mess. That's about when a large hand slammed down on my shoulder, almost knocking me off balance. "That was real smooth, Naruto. Like, _really._ Couldn'ta done it any better myself!"

"Shut up, Kiba," I grumbled, knowing the mocking wouldn't cease anytime soon.

He just laughed, because he knew my attempt to stop him was only half-hearted. "You look ridiculous, you know." He smiled maliciously, showing off his pointy, pearly-white canine teeth in the process.

"Yeah, even more so than normal." The lazy Shikamaru drawled out, sitting back in his chair with his hands behind his head, gazing up at the ceiling. I don't know why he always did that, nothing really seemed all that interesting up there. "Maybe you should go clean off your face." He suggested, again in a bored monotone.

"No, really? You think I should go wash this cheese off my face?" Shikamaru always brings out the sarcastic side of me. Sighing, I awkwardly put my hand behind my head and looked down, ashamed that I had to ask what I was about to ask. "So, uh... anyone know where the bathroom is?"

Every single member of the group looked at me as if I had two heads. What can I say, I just never had to go to the bathroom in the mall before... How was I supposed to know where it was? Even though we've been coming to this mall as a group often for almost two years, I still didn't know... so I had to ask.

But when they all got over their initial shock, Kiba, who was closest to me anyways, grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind him. And I could have sworn I heard him mumbling something about 'Can't believe I have to be seen walking with such an idiot...'

But I couldn't care less.

XxX

It all went downhill from there; big surprise, I know. Tuesday was amazing; I don't think I'd ever laughed so much in my life, and that's really saying something. But as soon as I woke up on Wednesday, I knew that I wouldn't be getting another moment like that for a while.

And man was I right. It just seemed like _everything _was against me that day, and I couldn't do anything more than grin and bear it. Wednesday (Always known as the start of the week from hell) started out with waking up late, which in turn made me late for practice with Sasuke. Which he was _not _happy about. He's definitely not the most patient of people, that's for sure.

Then from there, my backpack ripped open in the most crowded section of the hallway, forcing me clean it all up and be late for my class. Then at lunch, I realized I forgot my money right as I was about to pay. Sasuke was standing behind me in line, and he was definitely not in the mood to wait, so he paid for me. But all that good intention was ruined when I stepped out and the tray broke and dropped everything everywhere.

After dealing with _that _mess, (on top of not being able to eat) I was irritable and tired for the rest of the day. Hatake-sensei scolded me for my more-stupid-than-normal responses, and, to my dismay, I snapped back. Thank Kami he's forgiving and probably realized I had a bad day, otherwise I could be in deep shit right now.

But that was the end of my good fortune. On the last period of the day, I fell asleep in Iruka-sensei's class. And he was _not_ happy about it. I didn't want to make him mad, but... World History just isn't that interesting to me. And I was just so tired...

And before I knew it, I was just out like a light. When I awoke rather unpleasantly to Iruka's shrill yell, he tried to lecture me on politeness, decency, yada yada. My head was too groggy to reply, which is probably how I ended up in detention that day. I really had nothing to say in my defense; I didn't mean to nod off, and even less did I mean to make him mad at me. So I just sucked up my pride and all of the nasty comebacks my mind was (thankfully) to tired to say at the time of the incident. And even though I had to cancel my after-school session with Sasori, a thought that didn't make my day much better, I just had to be thankful that the detention ended at around the same time - that way, I wouldn't have to explain to Jiraiya, my guardian, what had happened. I told him I was staying after for art, and as long as he didn't ask, I didn't plan on telling. Sure, not the most trustworthy thing to do, but I just couldn't deal with something _else _bad happening that day. Seriously, how much could one man take? I didn't even care if he found out later on... he could have yelled at me about it all he wanted the next day and I wouldn't have cared at all. But just not that day. One more thing and I swear I would have cracked.

So yeah, that was the disaster named Wednesday.

Yesterday was marginally better, if only by a little bit; definitely not as bad as the previous day, but not very rewarding either. Nothing particularly bad stood out, but just everything put together made me feel... run-down. Exhausted. I still smiled and laughed, because I needed to always find _something _bright in my days, but on the inside I just wanted to take a well-deserved nap. Though thankfully, I resisted the urge in all of my classes.

Art yesterday was the only class that calmed me and made me forget about the world around me. And lemme tell you, I really needed that escape just to keep my sanity intact. Especially since I knew we had a game coming up Tuesday, and that meant practice later on would be about as relaxing as rolling around naked in a bed of thumb tacks. I was right about that, too.  
My passes sucked, my shots were half-hearted, my moves were sluggish - I wasn't surprised at all when Gai commented on my "lack of youthnicity" (seriously, is that even a _word_?) and made me run three laps around the track. In the rain.

Needless to say, I ran pretty slow. I didn't even feel like moving, but _running_? I'm surprised I even managed a slow jog

After taking longer than Gai's liking, he sent his mini-minion out after me. Lee lapped me about four times, and for once I didn't even try and keep up with him. Even my normally competitive mind had, in that moment, completely shut down and accepted the fact that I would _never _be able to reach him. Each time he passed me, he would mock me and comment on how slow I was being, but I didn't even have the energy to respond back. After I _finally _finished my laps, Lee reluctantly stopped as well (how he still had energy to burn on such a gloomy day, I have no idea) and we went back inside together.

When I got home after that, I crashed on the couch while trying to do my homework and didn't wake up until five AM this morning. I was well rested, and had more than enough time to get ready; there was even a slight bounce in my step. The stressed from the past two days had gradually ebbed away in sleep, and I felt refreshed. Ish.

Everything was going great today. _Too g_reat in fact. I found myself looking over my shoulder or making sure I wasn't about to trip over anything just because I was so paranoid that something bad would happen.

But... nothing did. That was, until... IT happened. Yeah, I should have figured that everything today was going too good to be true.

I blame all of it on my locker. All of it. The stupid fucker wouldn't open, and for some reason I started having a mini-panic attack because of that fact. I kept trying the combination over and over and over again... hey, isn't that the definition of insanity or something?

Nothing. Worked. It wouldn't budge, not one bit. That's when I finally ran to the nearest room (Kakashi's sensei's) to see if he could unlock it with the locker keys the teachers had, made specially for situations like this. As he made his way there at a snail's pace, I stole a glance at the time... two thirteen. There was _no way _I'd be able to make it to the buses in time! Not even if Kakashi managed to- ah, yes! He got it open and I shoved my books into my bag at lightening-speed before dashing down the stairwell. In the back of my head, I registered that it was rude to leave one of my favorite teachers without a thanks, but I didn't care right now. From my mini-meltdown, all the stress and exhaustion from the previous two days came crashing back down all at once. And as I made it to the school yard just in time to see all of the buses take off, it weighed heavier than ever on my shoulders.

Not knowing what else to do, I pulled out my phone and called the one person who'd be able to help me in this situation. _"Hello?"_ the voice on the other line asked.

"Um... Jiraiya, we've got a problem. I kinda missed the bus, and, yeah..."

I heard a sigh from the other end, but was thankful that he hadn't had a rough day today. If that was the case, he would have exploded at the inconvenience. _"Yeah, sure kid, I'll be right there. I have a lot of stuff to go through though, so can you hang around there for a little bit while I finish up here?"_

A small smile found its way onto my face, grateful that he was still willing to help me out. I know how much pressure he's put under in his line of work, so I understood that he would have to do that first before he could come get me. He hung up then, saying he would call when he was there. I said goodbye before closing my phone and turning back to the building. Maybe I could use this spare time wisely...

Sure enough, I found myself walking the familiar path in no time at all. This time Deidara's door was open, so I stopped in to annoy him on my way to Sasori's room. "What's up?" I called to the blonde who jumped as he heard me approach from behind.

"Naruto, you scared me! You could have just messed up my sculpture, yeah!" Even though his words were accusing, his tone was more surprised than anything and his face was straining to look angry. I laughed at the attempt to scold me, and it was the first genuine smile I'd worn all day.

"Sooo, what are you working on?" He tried to look angry at my dismissal of his words, but I could tell he really wasn't.

His anger forgotten, he delved into full detail about his work. It was a bird, crafted out of clay - he said he was making it to prepare for his 3D Media class tomorrow, to use it as an example to show his students. Even though I wasn't a member of the class, he still felt the need to give me the entire lesson anyway. I didn't mind, even though I had absolutely no idea what he was going on about - it was entertaining to watch Deidara talk, odd as that may sound.

He's a very animated person, and he _loves _talking with his hands. Deidara was all over the place, arms flailing to the point of me not even knowing what he was saying anymore. All I was concentrating on were his hand movements, and I think I was more concerned about the welfare of his sculpture than _he _was because of that fact.

Eventually he stopped, having finally run out of things to say, and I found myself grateful that I hadn't really paid attention to him. Concentrating on both his words and making sure he didn't knock over his own work would have been an exhausting task, and even though I was feeling a bit better, the exhaustion was still pretty overpowering. I didn't need anything else draining my energy.

I thanked him with a smile, and he waved at me (I almost had a heart attack when the arm nearly collided with the clay bird) before stealing through the door that connected his room with Sasori's.  
As I entered, dark eyes came up to meet mine and stayed there for less than a second before looking back down again. "Where's Sasori-sensei?" I asked, taking a quick look around.

"Not here." Itachi deadpanned.

"Well, _obviously_," I retorted with a sarcastic undertone, but dropped the subject altogether. It wasn't really all that important anyway - if Itachi was here, surely he wouldn't have a problem with me being here either. Sure it would have been better to ask him, but given the circumstances... I hope he'd understand. "So, did you miss me?" I asked with a half-taunting smile, too drained to attempt a real one as I set my stuff down and sat in the chair next to him. "I haven't bugged you all week!"

"I know, the silence alerted me to that." Again, monotone.

"Yeah well, you're just...," and for once, I couldn't find the drive to fight back. I know, right? Uzumaki Naruto, _not _feeling the need to talk? Who would have ever thought this day would come... hell, I know I'm one of the people who never thought they'd see it. But here I am, and I'm just... tired. Too tired to bother. I settled with just a "Whatever." in closing before opening my sketchpad to a blank page and staring at it for a moment.

Not really caring what my hand decided to do, I just let it flow across the page, creating lines as it went, shading here and there, sometimes even various shapes were added to form objects. Still, I didn't know what this was. I just gave myself to the pencil and let it go, letting it take me wherever it wanted to go. I don't know how long I sat like that; maybe a minute or two, maybe a half hour. However long it was, it was long enough for me to zone out and completely forget that I wasn't alone in the room. Until the other person alerted me to their presence, that is.

"You're quiet." A statement, not a question. "Why?"

I shrugged lightly, my mind still in a slightly numb state. "I dunno. Just... tired, I guess."

"You're never this quiet."

"Yeah, I know." I said, with more attitude than had been intentional. Actually, no attitude was intentional at all... I don't even know where it came from. It just, like... I don't know. I rubbed the bridge of my nose between my thumb and index finger as I closed my eyes and rested my elbow on my knee. "I mean... I just... I had a bad week. That's all."

He just looked at me. That was all. There was no question in his eyes, no annoyance, nothing to tell me he wanted me to continue... his expression was just as blank and empty as ever. All I noticed was that he didn't look back down at his work, he just stared right at me. And I don't even _what _had possessed me to think he'd want to listen, but... because he didn't look away, I told him anyway.

All about what had happened. How Tuesday was fun. About the cheese fries, and not knowing where to find the bathroom. Then about how much Wednesday hated me, and the laps I had to run on Thursday. Everything, all the way up to right that very second.

Itachi didn't say anything the whole time, probably because he didn't care one bit. Did Uchihas care about _anything_? I don't even know. But he nodded every once in a while, always in the right spots, just to let me know he wasn't ignoring me. Even though doing nothing but nodding is just about the **Number One** sign someone wants you to shut up, I kept going. I don't really know why, but it felt good to tell someone about everything. It kind of felt like I had activated a pressure-relief valve - just letting out all of that pent-up... whatever it was. Frustration? Exhaustion? Anxiety? A mix of all three?

I don't know, but whatever it was it felt a hell of a lot better without it weighing me down. Because for some unusual reason, Itachi was a great listener; which is all I really needed. Just someone who would listen.

**A/N: A word about Deidara's... "special" way of talking. I've seen people use "Yeah", and I've seen people use "Un". For me, I just like to use "Yeah", because that's an actual word in the English language. I'm sorry if that bothers you, but you are just going to have to deal.**


	4. Chapter Four

**Dear Math; Grow Up And Solve Your Own Problems. (I Don't Want To Keep Solving Yours)**

XxX

Anyone who said weekends were relaxing obviously hadn't ever been in _my _shoes. Or the shoes of any student at Konoha High or whatever-the-hell we're called.

Seriously! Teachers seem to think that all kids have time to do with their lives is eat, sleep and do work. And then repeat. I'm assuming they think that the first two consume only an hour of the day or so, so they must take it upon themselves to fill the twenty-three hour void with stack upon stack of work to make up for it. Granted, if I hadn't waited till the last minute to do all of it then I wouldn't be in this spot... but whatever. I must be hanging around Neji too much, because his responsibility lectures may actually be starting to rub off on me.

Ew. That can't be good.

Honestly... when will I ever need this stuff later in life? It's completely useless! Plus, I hate all of these subjects... if they weren't required courses, I sure as hell wouldn't be taking them right now. And the subjects I _do _like never give any homework... you see, I wouldn't mind doing homework for PE (Then again, I suppose that wouldn't make much sense...). But noooooo, I just _have _to be stuck with writing an English paper, three and a half pages of textbook work for Algebra II, a chart comparing Ancient Greece to Ancient Rome, _and _the rest of my lab for Bio that I was too lazy to do in class.

Oh, and on top of that, let's not forget that I only have three weeks to finish up my art piece, _and _a basketball game in two days. Not just any game either; against Suna. Konoha's biggest rival.

Bleh, there was just too much going on. And I thought life was finally looking up for a change.

There was just no way we could let them win; that'd be bragging rights for them until finals. And if they ended up beating us out of there altogether... well, let's just say no one would be very happy about that, excluding Suna itself. Not to say the two schools hated each other; hell, Gaara goes to Suna and he's one of my best friends. And I know his older brother, Kankuro, is on the team we're going up against. And we've hung out before. They're both pretty cool.

But that atill doesn't change the fact that this is war.

We just _couldn't _lose this game, and Gai made sure to let us know that. Now, on top of all the homework I put off, I have to worry about _that_ as well.

Relaxing weekend? I think not.

I glanced up at the clock and sighed - 11:38. And I still had that textbook work to do... I wouldn't be getting to bed anytime soon, and I knew that. Normally on Sundays I would make sure to go to bed pretty early - usually around ten-ish. That was so I could get a full night's sleep and still be able to get up early enough to hitch a ride with Jiraiya on his way to work. He would drop me off at school, just like he always does on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I could meet up with Sasuke.

That would clearly not be happening tomorrow. I'll need that extra hour and a half of sleep, just to remain somewhat lucid during the day.

I picked up my cell phone and scrolled through the contacts, stopping when I got to Sasuke's name. I pressed the 'talk' button to call him, not caring about the lateness at all. I could always have sent a text, but there was no guarantee he'd see it until tomorrow... no, calling him was my best bet.

I don't know why I decided to call Uchiha Sasuke at 11:38 on a Sunday night. At the time, it made sense.

He picked up on the third ring. "What do you want?" he asked. If he had been sleeping before I called, I would never know - his voice was still that perfect deep monotone, the one that made all of the girls weak in the knees, and didn't have a hint of the husky sleep-like tone I'd been expecting. Was he really that good, or was he just always up that late?

"Why hello to you too, teme," I retorted sarcastically. "Actually, I was just calling to let you know... I'm gonna have to cancel for tomorrow."

Silence. I thought maybe he had fallen asleep or hung up or something (I wouldn't put it past him) because it was just _that _quiet. "You know we have a game on Tuesday, right?" he deadpanned.

"Yeah...," I trailed off, getting the feeling that the question was rhetorical.

"And, you realize who that game is against?"

"Yeah...," I said again, not knowing if I should be answering or not.

"Then what-"

"Look," I said, cutting him off. I didn't want him to be angry with me... maybe if I explained, he'd understand. "I just have _so _much homework to do. It's almost midnight, and I'm _still _not done! I don't know about you, but I need at least seven hours of sleep to function. Five isn't gonna cut it. I just... even if we _did _practice at our normal time, I'd be a walking zombie. How much would we manage to get done then?" I tried to reason. I hoped what I was trying to say made sense to him, but my sleep-deprived mind could have messed up the translation of my thoughts to words somewhere along the way. "Plus," I continued, "Suna has _nothing _on us! We could probably beat them with our eyes closed and one hand tied behind our backs. Missing one practice session will be fine!"

"I still don't feel comfortable about not being able to train before a big game," he paused for a second, and I could tell even on the phone that he was rubbing the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. I could totally picture him, deep in thought with his eyes closed the same way he did all of those _other _times he was annoyed with me. "Look," he said after a minute or two, "after school, follow me to my bus. We're gonna practice at my house."

I nodded, but it took me a second to realize that he wouldn't be able to see that from the other side of the phone signal. "Sure," I said to make up for it. "Wait, why can't we just use the gym after school is out?"

There was a pause on the other line, but it was very short lived. "Because I wouldn't have another way to get home afterward."

"Oh, alright," I said, understanding his reasoning, "Well, I have a shitload of work I need to finish. See ya."

"Hn," he said, true to Uchiha fashion, before hanging up.

It wasn't until an hour later, when I was trying to find _**x**_ in _**3x^2 + x - 2 = 0***_, that an odd thought struck me.

If Itachi stays after school everyday, why couldn't Sasuke go home with Itachi after we practiced?

XxX

"Alright everybody, homework out."

A huge groan erupted around the classroom as all the students semi-verbally complained in unison. I say semi-verbally because what else do you expect from a group of teenagers on a frigging Monday morning at 7-fucking-50 in the morning. "Kakashi-sensei, that was _a lot _of homework! Why'd you have to give us so much on a _weekend_? Why couldn't you have given us more time to do it?" Ino complained as she glared down at her math.

"Yeah!" I agreed. "I mean, seriously, we have _lives_!"

"Well, maybe if you hadn't waited until the last minute to finish it..." Even though he was wearing a turtleneck that effectively hid his expression from us, I could tell the sly bastard was smiling. Damn. He knows me way too well.

"Th-that's beside the point!" I yelled. "You still shouldn't have given us so much!"

"I'm the teacher." he calmly stated. "I can give you as much as I want, and you have to do it unless you want to fail." Despite the threat in his tone, I could tell by the way he closed his eyes and the way they curved upwards that he was smiling, evidently content with the fact that he was ruining our lives.

"That is _so _not fair!" Ino chimed in again, slamming her fist on the desk.

"On the contrary, it says so in my contract," Kakashi stated in an amused tone. He had a really sick sense of humor, seeing as how he thought all of our problems were _funny_.

"Oh really? You actually _read _the contract? Meaning, you put your porn book down long enough to be able to concentrate on something _other _than explicit material?" Ino is a very hard person to argue with; even if she isn't doing anything other than complaining.

I couldn't help but snicker at Ino's accusation. Seriously, I don't think I've _ever _seen him without that book! Sometimes, I wonder if he covers his face all the time just to hide the fact that it makes him drool when he reads it...

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it," Was his only response.

"I think I'll pass," Ino stated, rolling her eyes in irritation.

Neji, who had observed the whole discussion, just rolled his eyes and sighed from the seat next to me. "He's right, you know. If you hadn't waited until the last second, it would have been easie-"

"LA LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU," I covered my ears and whisper-shouted to him. No more lectures! Neji-lectures were the worst. Begging for Kami to spare me, just this once, I closed my eyes and tried to tune him out.

He just rolled his eyes again. "That's really mature."

Yes! No lecture for today! Maybe Neji finally realized that it just wouldn't work on me... logic in general seemed to have no effect either. Maybe it finally got through to him.

Completely unaware of the conversation Neji and I had just had in the back of the room, Kakashi turned around and began writing on the board. I just stared, fixated on the spot between his shoulder blades as I tried to come up with something to get him back for all the work I was forced to do.

I just stared, and stared, and stared... at that _one _spot. Because I was pretty brain-dead at the time. My eyebrows basically fused together from all of the thinking I was doing (my mind wasn't used to being overworked) as I just continued to stare, drawing up a blank.

Kakashi, still unaware of the plotting going on only fifteen feet from where he was standing, continued to write out the math problems on the board.

And that's when it hit me - I knew how I was going to get him back! No, it didn't have anything to do with the math he was writing... but it had _everything _to do with the spot between his shoulder blades that I had been concentrating on.

Quickly, I ripped out a piece of paper from my notebook and began to write. Sure, it wasn't the most mature thing to do (who said I was mature anyway?) but hell, I would get a good laugh out of it and I'd love to see how embarrassed he'll get when he finds out... "What are you doing?" Neji asked quietly, looking over at me. When I had finished writing, I simply looked over at him with a sly grin gracing my features before nicking off a piece of tape to attach to the ripped paper I had written on. (_Yes, _I carry tape with me. Only for emergency situations, such as this.) When Neji finally figured out what I was up too, he just rolled his eyes for about the fiftieth time today. "The level of maturity you possess for your age simply astounds me. And not in a positive way."

Not even acknowledging his insult, I threw him one more sly grin as I got out of my seat. I walked stealthily through my aisle, carrying a separate spare sheet of paper along with me to make it look like I was about to throw something away. I made it to the garbage can without anyone even bothering to look up at me - I guess it was just my ninja skills that kept me from being noticed. That _is_ our school team, after all - the Konoha High Ninjas (Don't ask. I really don't know). What kind of Ninja would I have been if I had gotten caught?

Anyway, utilizing my aforementioned ninja skills, I snuck up behind our asshole of a math teacher (even though he _is _a cool guy - it doesn't change the fact that he's an ass) and pressed the note to his back lightly. Once I was sure that the tape had stuck, but also that he hadn't felt it, I dashed back to my seat as quietly as I could. Which was pretty damn quiet, seeing as how I'm a ninja and all.

"I can't believe you just did that," Neji scolded.

I just snickered while a really stupid-looking grin took over my face. Around the room, other snickers could be heard as the students looked up to see what was on their teacher's back.  
Kakashi sighed, completely unfazed, and returned his piece of chalk to the rut beneath the chalkboard without even finishing up the equation he'd started. And without even turning around, he spoke to all of us, "None of you are ever this giggly at eight-thirty in the morning on a _Monday_." he stated, skepticism lacing his tone. "There's something taped to my back, isn't there?"

More snip-its of laughter trying (and failing) to be hidden could be heard spreading like wildfire through the room. The stupid grin on my face widened as I observed their reactions, but I kept my eyes on Kakashi-sensei the whole time.

Just then he reached his arm around his back, and when he felt what he was looking for, he pulled it off. "Just as I suspected," he said, turning it over so he could read it. Then, there was a pause. A very short pause, but a profound pause nonetheless. "'_Kick me'_?" he said with disbelief. "Seriously, that's the best you've got?" Now he turned himself to face the class, waving the note in his hand. "Seriously, be more creative. _'Kick me'_?" he repeated. "Really, that's not impressive at all. If you _really _want to make me feel threatened, the note should say _'Audit me!' _or _'Penalize my taxes!' _or _'Sue me!'. _Now _that _stuff is scary. Honestly, the only way to hurt someone nowadays is to sue them. I think I'd rather be punched in the face by Shikamaru's mother than be sued, and _that _should tell you something."

Well, alright then... that was _totally _not how I'd pictured this situation to end up. He should have at least felt embarrassed or _something_, but-

"Nice try anyway, Naruto," he said, smiling with his eyes again as he looked in my direction. "Just for that, everyone has to do pages eighty-nine through ninety-two for homework. No skipping problems, no exceptions."

Okay, he seemed _way _too happy when he said that. And as the groans sounded around the room yet again, mine included among them, I noticed the fact that his supposed smile became even more evident in his eyes. My own eyes narrowed at that fact. Did he _enjoy _watching us suffer? Oh, wait a sec, I already know the answer to that question.

Sadistic bastard.

And now the whole class hated me. Could my day get any better?

XxX

As the final bell rang, I realized that I don't think I've ever felt happier to hear that noise in my entire lifetime. I gathered all of my things quickly, leaving the Biology classroom behind me without a second glance.

I stopped at my locker to pick up my stuff (the custodial staff managed to fix it for me over the weekend) and it was only then that I remembered I'd told Sasuke I'd follow him to his bus. I'd even told Ero-Sennin that I'd be going with him this morning... how had I managed to forget?

But anyway, now that I remembered, everything should be fine... except, I didn't know where Sasuke was. Or what bus he took for that matter. This could potentially be quite a problem.

As I made my way down the staircases and out to the school yard though, I exhaled a breath that I hadn't known I was holding when I spotted Sasuke's duck-ass hair immediately.

"'Bout time you got here, dobe. You're lucky the buses haven't taken off yet," he smirked. I just scowled at him, not wanting to say anything that could potentially make him mad at me. I was going to his home after all - and, as much as it went against my nature to think rationally, I guess it'd be really rude if I didn't seem grateful about that.

Yeah, Neji's lectures were _definitely _starting to rub off on me... much to my dismay.

I did scowl though, just to let him know I didn't appreciate his comment. But as he saw the scowl on my face, his smirk just widened as he turned to walk away. I followed obediently behind him, not wanting to lose him in the ridiculously huge crowd of students.

We finally made our way through all of them to find Sasuke's bus; as we made our way up the stairs, I realized that what he said about the buses almost leaving was bullshit. We were among the first people there.

"Hey, I haven't seen you before," I turned just then, surprised that the bus driver called me out.

What was I supposed to say? What if he-?

"He's with me," Sasuke said, finality in his tone as he grabbed my wrist and pulled my anxious form after him. It's a good thing he did too, because I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I wouldn't have been able to move myself. Jeesh, this was pathetic. I was scared of a freaking **bus-driver**. Something was wrong with me life.

The bus driver didn't say anything after that, which wasn't surprising; in this school, Sasuke's word was the _law_. If he told the student population that breathing wasn't cool, ninety-nine percent of them would drop dead (And I think I could count those who wouldn't on one hand). I'm not surprised the bus driver caught on to that trend as well.

The good thing though was that he didn't abuse his privileges. Even though he _could _tell all of his fangirls to drop dead and they would do it with pride, he didn't. Or anything else of that nature. In fact, if anything, it seemed that he didn't want that power bestowed upon him at all. I can't really blame him though.

Sasuke continued to pull me until we got to the very last row, where he finally released me and slip into the last seat on the left. Then he proceeded to pull out his iPod and look out the window as the other students filtered in.

"Do you always do that?" I asked. He turned around to face me, a questioning look on his face as he removed one of the earbuds and motioned for me to repeat myself.

When I did, he answered, "Do what?"

"Turn on you iPod and block everyone out." Duh. Of course he did. He's duck-ass-haired-emo Sasuke.

"Oh. Yeah, pretty much," he stated, "The people here get really loud and irritating, so I find it's best if you just ignore them altogether."

I shrugged and followed his example, pulling out my own iPod and listening to whatever song came up on shuffle. I bet we made a really weird couple; emo duck and orange blond, both tuning out the world. Anyways, I continued listening to my iPod, tuning out the world around me, until I felt Sasuke nudge me (_really hard_) in the side. "Huh?" I asked, pulling out the earbuds.

"This is my stop," he said before basically pushing me out of the seat and down the aisle to the door.

Once we got off and the bus had moved on, I looked at him. "Sooo, where-?"

"This way," he said, cutting me off as he motioned for me to follow behind him. I did, and we walked together in somewhat companionable silence (I only say _somewhat _because I was itching for some conversation) while we continued in the direction of his house. As we did, I couldn't help but noticing that the houses kept getting _bigger _and _bigger _as we passed them.

Finally, he turned left into what I assume was his driveway. I couldn't help but marvel at what I saw - his house was _amazing. _Nothing too flashy; simple in a sophisticated way, but definitely nicer than the place Ero-Sennin and I stay. Our place resembles a trashcan when compared to Sasuke's home.

It was pretty big; two stories, but it was wide. It was just a plain white color, but that didn't surprise me since I figured boring people tend to have boring-colored houses. Now if _I _had a say in things, Jiraiya's house would be painted a nice shade of orange. But _of course_ he nixed that before the suggestion even came out of my mouth. Oh well...

Their lawn was neatly kept, and the brightest green I had ever seen. But I didn't get to admire it for too long, as Sasuke pulled me inside without even a passing glance at the masterpiece. Probably 'cause he sees it every single day.

"You can just put your stuff on the couch or something," he said, putting his own backpack there.  
I went to remove mine as well, but it was just then that it registered in my head how heavy it was.

Which reminded me... "Sasuke? How long do you want me to stay?"

He just smirked that stupid Sasuke at me. "What, eager to leave so quickly?"

Backpedaling, I realized the mistake I had made. "No! No no no, that's not what I meant! I mean, I just have a lot of homework... and stuff... Stupid Kakashi..."

He shrugged and leaned against the hallway arch, folding his arms. "I have stuff to do too, so you can leave whenever we're done if you'd like. So you can get your stuff done."

"Yeah, sounds good to me," I said, looking around in awe. The house was spotless, but I really hadn't expected anything less. Simple, yet modern - it definitely fit Sasuke's personality. "Isn't it weird... how we've been friends for this long, and I've never once been to your house?" I said in a questioning tone, too mesmerized by the room that I didn't even make sense of what I was saying.

"Hn. Weird," Sasuke deadpanned, narrowing his eyes in slight irritation. Well, what was shoved up _his _ass today? "Are we going outside or not? We have a game to prepare for."

"Oh... right," I said, my thoughts breaking away from the room I was studying. I almost forgot why I was here to begin with.

XxX  
"Give up yet?" Sasuke taunted, dribbling the ball just out of my reach. He may have tried to sound all high-and-mighty, but I could tell otherwise. I'd given him a run for his money, that's for sure - if the sweat running down his face and his deep panting were any indicators of that. I smirked at that fact, regardless of the fact that I was currently in the same state as him - except I wasn't in possession of the ball.

"No way, teme," I retorted, smirking as I prepared to steal it from him the second he made a move.

He banked right at an almost unprecedented speed, but I was right there trailing him the whole time. I waited for the right time, and - there! I smacked it down to the ground in my direction just as he made a move to dribble it himself. I twisted around to a one-eighty, effectively shielding myself just long enough to make a run for it.

I dribbled it all the way down to my end, bouncing it one last time before taking the shot.

As I heard the _'swoosh'_ of the ball entering the net, I felt a smile grace my features.

"I win...," I breathed out, right before falling to the ground in exhaustion.

"Idiot," Sasuke panted, walking over to where I was laying, "Who said it was over?"

"I did," I stated.

"Your logic is impeccable." How he managed to sill be able to say big words while being nearly out of breath is beyond me.

"Wa... ter..." See? I could barely manage two syllables.

"Hn," he nodded and held out a hand to help me up, which I graciously accepted. "That's enough for today."

"What time is it?" I asked. We must've been going for a long time for me to be _this _exhausted. I didn't want to overstay my welcome... And I had all that homework...

"Four thirty," Sasuke said, checking his phone as we walked through the sliding glass doors that led back into his house. "You should probably go soon. I don't want you dragging my name into your excuses for why you won't have your homework tomorrow."

"Oh come ON now." I laughed as we walked to his kitchen, "That's just selfish. You _know _that if I mention your name they'd give me a free pass! Just this once...?" I begged.

"And what lesson would you learn from that?" he smirked, grabbing two water bottles out of his fridge and handing one to me.

I just sighed, knowing he wouldn't ever let me. Not like I needed his permission or anything, but I didn't need to drag him into it. Hell, I could do my homework on my own! I didn't need his help _or _his name to get out of doing my work! Yeah, that'll show him...

...Did I just contradict my own argument? Damn bastard. "Whatever... I guess I actually have to _do _my homework then..."

"Good for you. You should really get into the habit of doing that, it'd benefit you greatly."

"Bastard! I don't need advice from you!" I made a fist and lazily threw it at him, since I didn't have that much energy left. He caught it though, so I threw my left fist at him in the same manner... which he also caught with a smirk. I was just about ready to kick him in the-place-that-shall-not-be-named when-

"Sasuke," an emotionless voice said from behind me. Even though I knew who it was, it still scared the shit out of me! "You let that _thing_ in the house?"

Sasuke looked just about as scared as I felt. Which was weird, since I'd _never _thought he could be scared. It was also weird because... wouldn't Sasuke have seen Itachi? If he looked over my shoulder, he would have seen him and therefore he shouldn't have been as scared as me (my back was to him, I had an excuse!), but still... I don't think I'd ever seen his eyes so wide.

"N-nii-san," Sasuke stated, faltering minutely in his cool monotone. "You're home early."

Well. This wasn't awkward at all.

I got over my fright pretty quickly, turning around to greet him, but Sasuke still slightly resembled a deer in the headlights. Man, what was his problem today? "Hey Itachi!" I waved at him. He was currently leaning against the opening to the kitchen with his arms folded, backpack still flung over one shoulder.

He responded with a "Hn" (wow, like I wasn't expecting that) before ignoring us altogether and grabbing a water from the fridge. "One of these days, you're going to be receiving harassment charges. From me."

Man, I really hope he was joking... but judging by the way that he moved right past us, I could tell _(hoped) _he wasn't serious.

I was just about to make a comment, but Sasuke spoke first. "You know Itachi?" he asked me, incredulity lacing his tone. "Nii-san, you know Naruto?"

"Yup!" I responded, realizing that I had never brought him up before. "He's in my art class this semester, and I see him after school sometimes in Sasori's room. Isn't that right?" I asked as I turned, throwing my arm casually around Itachi's shoulder as the fridge door closed. Which I must say was _really _hard to do, since he was about a whole six inches taller than me. I guess it was just habitual; I always did it with Sasuke, so I just figured it'd be the same with him. Wrong; apparently, he's a lot taller _standing up _than he is _sitting down_ (I know, big shocker).

"Hn," Itachi responded (yup, totally didn't see that one coming either), "Please remove yourself," he said, but contradicted his words by gracefully ducking under my arm on his own. Well hey, at least it was nicer than Sasuke's 'get-the-fuck-off-of-me-or-die' approach.

Speaking of Sasuke... I don't think I've ever seen him wear such and interesting expression before in the entire time I'd known him. He looked confused, to say the least; no doubt from just finding out that his best friend and brother had acquainted themselves without him knowing. But there was something more underneath that... Surprise? No way... Uchihas couldn't be surprised. It would go against their very nature.

"Helloooo?" I asked, waving my hand in front of Sasuke's face as Itachi left the kitchen and turned right down the hallway, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said as he snapped out of his reverie, smacking my hand away. "Hey, want to work on homework while you're here?"

Okay, now it was my turn to be confused. "I thought you had things to do. Weren't you just trying to shoo me out a couple of minutes ago?"

"Yeah, well...," he started, looking around the room for a brief moment, "I just didn't want you here to annoy my brother. He doesn't particularly like guests. But since you two already seem to know each other." He stated with emphasis, in an accusing tone. "Then I guess it's fine if you stay. Obviously he hasn't killed you yet, so he should be fine with you staying to do homework. It'd be easier that way, anyway."

Alright, time to gather information. The _pros_ of staying: _the _Uchiha Sasuke would be working on my homework with me, which is basically a guaranteed A. The _cons_ of staying: Itachi possibly filing a harassment lawsuit against me.

...I'll take my chances.

"Sure, let's get started!" I said, pushing my hand down onto his shoulder.

XxX

"...And then the _**x**_ goes _where_?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at me, obviously annoyed. I just couldn't help it; math doesn't like me! And for that matter, the feeling is mutual. I just don't get it.

He ripped the paper from me and began scribbling a whole bunch of notes that looked more like a foreign language to me than anything else. "Look, idiot, you separate it here and then-"

"But that doesn't make any sense!" I whined in a very undignified manner. Not that I cared. "I mean- But then-" I gasped out, ripping the paper from him and flipping over at every angle to see if it looked more normal in different positions. No luck. "What about-"

Sasuke nearly growled at me, ripping the paper back not even a second later (Don't ask how the paper managed to stay together between our grabbiness: I haven't the foggiest). "Naruto, it's easy! Just shut up and listen. You take the _**x**_ and-"

"It's a quadratic equation," Itachi's cool voice cut it, and both of us dropped silent as we looked up to see him leaning against the entryway to the living room, arms folded over his chest. "That's why he's getting two answers, Naruto. You solve for _**x **_twice to get the two graphing coordinates."

Well hey, that made a hell of a lot more sense than Sasuke's explanation did. Sasuke seemed to think that his own answers were inadequate as well, judging by his reaction; "Tch, who asked you anyway?"

"No one," Itachi replied, smooth and emotionless as ever, "I just heard you two arguing from upstairs and couldn't take it any longer."

I looked down, rubbing the back of my head with my hand in annoyance. Man, it must look really bad for me to seem so disrespectful in someone else's home... "Sorry about being so loud..." I  
grumbled, but I'm pretty sure he heard me.

And the only reason I think that is because of what he said as he turned around to walk back upstairs; "I've come to expect nothing less from you, Naruto."

XxX

**A/N: Changed the chart from comparing America to Japan. None of the characters in Naruto seem to have a set nationality or race. I suppose you could say they are Japanese (since the show comes from Japan), but that idea really bothers me for some reason (Pink hair? Blue eyes? Last time I checked, those were not naturally occurring genes in the Japanese race). So whatever. This is a mix of imagined races (and some semi-realistic races), all going to school together.**

*** I'm not entirely sure that's a possible problem, but who knows. I really don't care. Pretend it works.**


	5. Chapter Five

**"Ironman"? Don't Be Silly, Men Don't Iron. (And Women Like Ino Don't Stay In The Kitchen)**

XxX

Why is it that whenever I _finally_ relax and get comfortable, my alarm clock has to pull me away from it? It's almost as if it doesn't want to see me happy, and instead lies in wait for me to drop my guard before... WHAM! It makes me up. That's what happened today. After a long night of practice the yesterday, and staying up past midnight to do homework, it decided to deprive me of my peace by startling me awake.

I definitely wasn't too happy about that. So unhappy, in fact, that my alarm suffered a nice little trip flying across my room and then slamming into the opposing wall. Normally, I would be worried that I broke the stupid piece of crap, but seeing as I've done this a bigillion times before, I was pretty confident the clock was going to make it.

So I flipped my legs over the side of my bed and pulled myself up, grumbling through the entire time it took me to get to the bathroom. I showered and ate breakfast, almost in a daze-like state (or, more accurately, a _sleep-deprived _state) before I grabbed my backpack and headed out to wait for the bus. I knew that Jiraiya would be gone by now, so there was no reason for me to ask him to give me a ride if he wasn't even there.

He was rarely ever home nowadays. I really loved hanging out and just talking with him, but these days he seemed to have less and less time to do that. With work and everything, he'd barely ever had time to do anything. I was upset about it, but I'd never tell him. What could he do about it anyway? Just stop going to work? Yeah, fat chance.

I turned my iPod on and waited for the bus as the other people who got on at this stop filtered in. The bus came not long after; it was usually on time, so no one really felt rushed. We all meandered onto the transport device and took our seats, and I stared out the window as I watched the bus follow its usual course. I got on at the first stop, which meant a good half an hour of boredom. Thankfully, my iPod was there to solve all of my problems.

I closed my eyes to rest a bit and regain my lost sleep as I waited for the bus to arrive at its destination. Occasionally I'd register the bus stopping and people getting on, but it wasn't really enough to stir me. It wasn't until a junior tapped me on the shoulder to tell me the bus had stopped that I finally woke up. Had I really been in that deep a sleep? I groggily thanked him before making my way to class, too tired to even be embarrassed about the whole thing.

I looked at the time on my cellphone, and it told me that it was only 7:35. _Ten more minutes, _I mentally reminded myself. Now... what class did I have first today? Damn, I could never remember. I hated this stupid shifting-schedule thing. Why couldn't we just have the same thing at the same time everyday? Sure it'd be a bit boring, but at least it would be easy to remember.  
To top it all off, I had lost my schedule back in November. If only I could remember what class I had had last two days ago, then I would know what class I had now... or even remember any of the classes I'd had yesterday... But no. II kept drawing a blank, no matter what I did. Damn it!

Then I saw someone who could, quite possibly, be my saving grace in this situation. "Ino!" I called out to her when I saw her standing by her locker. "Hey," I started as I drew nearer, "What class do you have first?"

"Photography." she said, closing her locker, "Period five is first today."

That was so confusing; curse this school in all of its ifioticnessPeriod five? You'd think that would actually be _period five, _right? Well, apparently not. The period stayed with each particular class, and the classes shifted each day. It was amazingly confusing, and it took me all of last year to figure it out completely. I still think it's stupid.

"Thanks,. I said, a faint blush coloring my cheeks. I was ashamed that I had to ask her such a basic thing. This late into the year, you'd think I would have learned my schedule by now... but nope. Here I was, asking Ino about it...

She smiled and said "No problem!" before heading off to wherever her class was.

"Period five...," I thought aloud, as if speaking it would somehow help me remember faster. "Period five, period five, period five..." Still no luck. History? No, that was my period four class. So what did I have after history... "Ah!" I said, snapping my fingers when I had finally figured it out. Art! Duhh, why hadn't I figured it out sooner?

I blame it on the fact that I've had a very busy week. Otherwise, I would have definitely remembered that I had art first today!

Unfortunately, because I had gotten myself so lost, the art room just happened to be on the complete opposite end of the building, three floors up. Three floors up and all the way on the opposite side of this _gigantic _building. I mentally sighed and began the trek. Thank God I still had five minutes left before the last bell rang, otherwise I would have never gotten there in time. 

When I did finally reach the room, panting and out of breath, I took my seat and collapsed against the desk. I didn't hear Itachi say anything, and I didn't expect him to, but I could feel his gaze on my back as he (I assume) tried to figure out what could have possibly put me in that state.

But in accordance with his Uchiha-ness, he probably looked away after deeming it unimportant and unworthy of his time. Whatever. He was warming up to me, I could feel it! He was just too much of cold-hearted jerk (maybe that's where Sasuke got it from?) to ever admit it.

I heard the final bell ring then, and that's when Sasori got up to begin teaching. He lazily drawled on about the importance of contour lines and complex contour lines, except it was a bit pointless since everyone in the room had already taken the precursor art class and knew what those were. But he recapped it anyway, just in case we had forgotten, and forced us to draw a seashell while utilizing the most basic of techniques.

Man, it was so beyond boring! I already knew how to do this, and all it was doing was consuming time... time that I could have been spending on detailing the outline of my piece for the winter show. And I'm definitely not a patient person (What teenager is?), so I didn't want to sit here and waste my time on some stupid exercise...

I quickly drew all of the lines he'd told us to draw, not really caring if it looked like crap (which it did) as long as I followed the directions and properly utilized both of the types of lines. Well, I definitely did... Sort of. The end product looked more or less like a duck that got run over by a car than a seashell, but hey, at least I was done with it.

"That's being graded, you know," Itachi decided to butt in. Hell, I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I forgotten that he was even there! Though his uncanny ability to be completely silent could also have something to do with my forgetfulness.

"Yeah, yeah." I said, brushing him off. "I have more important things to work on. I don't care about some stupid exercise."

He just shrugged in response, and I felt a twinge of disappointment at the fact that he didn't ever want to keep a conversation rolling. I thought we had been off to a good start, since he'd decided to talk to me first, but instead he'd gone back to being silent immediately after I answered.

Truthfully, I hadn't really been expecting him to say anything anyway. But I was still disappointed that he wouldn't say anything more.

I brushed it off though, flipping to another page in my sketchpad to begin the outline for my piece. I'd have to transfer it onto a canvas of some sort, which would be a huge pain in the ass later, but for now getting the outline done was the most important thing. At least now, with an outline, doing the other stuff would be a bit easier.

As time went on, I found myself becoming more and more agitated with Itachi's lack of response. It really wasn't all that surprising to me that he wouldn't say anything, but it still bothered me... Wasn't he even the least but curious as to what I was working on? Didn't he want to see what I deemed as 'more important' than class work? Any normal person would want to see. Hell, I would too if the shoe was on the other foot!

Maybe he was just smart enough to realize that I would probably tell him about it anyway, in which case he wouldn't have to ask. So why would he bother wasting his breath? Ah, I see...

Well, isn't Uchiha Senior a smart little cookie? Well, if that's how it's gonna be, then I won't give him the satisfaction of telling him! No, no matter how much I craved to start a conversation with him simply to alleviate the silence, I will make sure that he's the one to speak first! Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. A perfect plan, in fact!

...And everyone knows how well Uzumaki Naruto's plans work. Pretty damn foolproof, if I do say so myself.

But as class went on, I found myself pressing my pencil harder against the paper as I got more and more irritated with the fact that my amazing plan wasn't working. C'mon, he had to say something eventually! ...Didn't he?

Ten more minutes passed, and still nothing. The tip of my pencil had snapped twice, and I had to get up and re-sharpen it both times. This wasn't working out at all. So much for my foolproof plan.

Finally, five minutes before the bell was scheduled to ring, I completely gave up. I put my pencil back in it's case and returned my sketchpad to my backpack. After all of that was done, I folded my arms on the table and paced my head down on top of them. Wow, first block of the day and I already had a headache. Wonderful.

"That's the longest you've ever gone without talking. Since I've met you, at least."

My head snapped up immediately to see where the voice came from. Call me crazy, but it sounded a lot like... no, it couldn't be... Itachi? Itachi had actually talked?

I opened my mouth to speak, or maybe it was just to gape in surprise, but either way he spoke first. "It must have been quite a struggle for you to accomplish such a feat."

Was he insinuating that I was being quiet for a specific reason? Damn him for being right all the time! "Was not!" I childishly retorted.

He ignored me altogether. "Why were you being so quiet?" He asked. Even though curiosity should be present in his tone for having asked such a question, I couldn't detect any. He just said it in his normal monotone, no inflection in his voice at all. "I could tell you were getting quite aggravated with the silence. I had expected you to talk eventually to break it, though."

"Asshole." I mumbled under my breath. Was it really that obvious that I was trying to keep my mouth shut? Was I really that easy to read? "Maybe I just didn't feel like talking." I mumbled again, keeping my voice low and muffled so that it may come out as sounding more believable.

"Hn." Itachi was quiet for a second, and I almost thought that that would be the end of the conversation until he spoke again. "Not even a beggar would buy that bowl of crap."

Damn him! Seriously, was I really that easy to figure out? How is it that he seemed to know more about me than I knew of him? That just wasn't fair!

All the same, I gave up. Nothing would get by him anyway, so I wouldn't even bother. "I was trying to see if I could get you to talk first," I grumbled into my arms as I put my head back on my desk.

The response was muffled, but I knew that he'd heard me. That thought alone was enough to fatally wound my pride.

Itachi made that odd hum/sigh noise, as if to acknowledge he had heard me. Again, he was silent for a moment as he thought things over before he spoke again. "I guess you succeeded then."

My head snapped up again. "Huh?" I asked, but the bell sounding above us overpowered my voice.

He was out of the room and onto his next class before he probably even realized I had said anything.

Fucking Uchihas!

XxX

"Naruto, I'm open!" I heard Sai call to my left. I pivoted on my left foot to scope out where he was; not good. I was flanked on both sides by the opposition, leaving no room to pass. They were just standing there, waiting for me to make the wrong move so they could snatch the ball away from me...

Unfortunately for them, Uzumaki Naruto doesn't give in that easily.

I faked passing it to the right, which effectively distracted them enough for me to immediately snap back and throw it to Sai. It gracefully went right from his fingers and up into the net with a soft _swish _before bouncing back to the ground.

"That's enough for today guys!" Gai's voice sounded through the gymnasium, "The flame of your youth has glowed quite brightly, and I want the very same spark of enthusiasm at our game tonight!" He paused to give us all a flashy thumbs-up before continuing, "Now go home, eat, take a nap, do some homework, and I expect to see you all here at seven-fifteen sharp!"

And no joke, but that must have been a new record for Gai-sensei. He only used the word 'youth' once.

After he finished talking, I quickly sprinted over to the locker rooms. "Nice job, Sai." I said as I walked past.

He just gave me one of those creepy fake smile of his and I shuddered a little bit. Seriously, he was a nice guy and all, but he just freaked me out.

I cleaned up a bit but didn't shower; I could just do that when I got home. It'd be better than using these piece-of-shit showers the school had, that's for sure. I only used those when there was no other option.

"Yo, Kiba!" I waved to him as he walked away, "Just gonna leave me here?"

"Of course, man." He joked, smacking me on the back, "What, did you think I just forgot about you?"

I just laughed and shook my head, climbing in the passenger side of his car when we reached it.

The ride to my house was relatively silent, seeing as how both of us were still a bit tired from the mock-game we'd played earlier. When we finally reached our destination, I got out of his car and waved him off with a "Don't forget to pick me up at seven!" As he drove away. He honked in recognition, and I could only take that as a 'sure' as I walked inside.

I discarded all of my school-related items onto the couch where they would lay forgotten for the remainder of the night. Yeah, I'd get in trouble for that tomorrow, but so what? One day of no homework wouldn't kill anyone.

I immediately headed for the shower, eager to wash away all of the dirt and sweat from my body. It was just gross, having to sit in it for five minutes more than strictly necessary. But hey, that's they price I had to pay for being unwilling to use the school facilities when I had my own shower at my disposal.

No matter how gross it was, I would still make the same choice every single time.

I had just stepped out of the shower to dry off when the oddest thing happened; there was a knock at the front door.

That was certainly weird. Who would be knocking on the door now? Jiraiya had a key and didn't need to knock (knowing him, he'd probably try to bust in through a window before stooping to the level of knocking to get into his own house) and... well, that was about it. No one else I knew would be here at this hour and actually _knock._

Curious, too curious to even bother dressing first, I walked out of the bathroom and to the front door with nothing more than a towel around my waist. I undid the lock and turned the knob, only to find... "Ino?" I asked, completely and utterly confused at the sight before me.

Without even bothering with a 'hello'( true to Ino fashion), she pushed me aside and let herself inside. "It's cold outside!" She exclaimed, rubbing her arms to warm them up as she pushed my door closed.

I was still a bit surprised to see her here; even more surprised by the fact that I didn't feel uncomfortable about being almost fully naked in her presence. Were we really that close that it didn't affect me at all?

Nah, maybe I'm just a confident person who doesn't get shy easily. Yeah, let's go with that.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not in an accusatory tone. Confused would be a better word to describe it.

For greater measure, Ino didn't seem to mind the fact that I was half naked either. "Kiba sent me because he wouldn't be able to get you on time. Hope you don't mind, but I'll be driving you to the game tonight."

Of course I didn't mind, but... "Ino, you're an hour early. I don't have to leave 'til seven."

"Well I was bored and had nothing better to do, so I decided to come bother you. Besides, I need someone to angst to about Sasuke's fan-girls."

I just laughed at her logic as she shrugged nonchalantly. "Just gimme some time to get ready." I told her before leaving the room.

I came back fully dressed, donned in the usual Konoha High Ninja's basketball uniform. It was really just a green jersey with white lettering that complimented our white shorts with green trim. Since (as Ino pointed out) it was a bit chilly outside, I threw on my Konoha High sweatshirt. It was gray with the hint of green and white in it, since those were our school colors, and on the back it had our school's insignia - a big swirly thing with an odd-looking jut at the bottom that made it slightly resemble a snail that fell over and couldn't get back up. Or a bird pecking at the ground.

Either way, no matter how odd it looked, it was better than Suna's - I mean, a drinking gourd? Really, that's the best they could come up with?

Anyway, so I was all comfortable in my uniform as I moved into the kitchen to get a pre-game snack... only to be stopped by Ino. "You aren't serious, are you?" She asked, one eyebrow raised as she leaned against the fridge, her arms folded across her chest.

"Huh?" I asked, completely confused. Was she talking about food? Because hell yeah I was serious about eating! Nothing she could say would make me not want to go right in there and eat-

"Your clothes." Ino snapped, sending me a dirty glare. My clothes? What was wrong with my clothes? "They're all wrinkly!"

I rolled my eyes at her and moved to the fridge to get a bottle of water. "So what?"

"So what?" She repeated, a hint of disgust lacing her tone. Sheesh, women. "_So _you can't just go to the game like that!"

"Why not?" I asked, getting a bit defensive now. I liked my clothes the way they were!

"Because they make you look all... unkempt!" she threw her hands up in the air for emphasis.

"Go iron them!"

"No!"

"I'm not letting you leave this house until they're ironed!" Ino pointed a long-nailed, perfectly manicured finger at me menacingly, her piercing stare making my legs quiver against my will. I had forgotten how truly frightening she could be until just this moment.

"But- I..." I stuttered as she drew closer, "I don't know how to iron!" I finally yelled.

She completely halted for a moment, and expression of shock on her face. "You... don't know how to iron?" Ino repeated, as if saying it out loud would somehow help her process the words. I just nodded slowly, unsure of what she'd do next. "How do you not know how to iron?" She finally managed to get out.

"You actually thought I'd be able to?" Now it was _my_ turn to be shocked. "That's a girl thing! You can't expect guys to know how to do that kind of stuff!"

A fire lit up inside her eyes as she heard those words and, I don't even know what I said that had made her so angry, but I suddenly feared for my life. The finger was pointing back in my face as she spoke again. "Girls shouldn't always be seen as the ones doing all the dirty work, you know! You men have to pick up the slack and learn to do your own chores!"

Oh Ino. I loved her dearly, as a friend, but she completely terrified me sometimes. This was one of those times.

I just stood there and allowed her to cool down a bit, all the while the mantra of _'Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me!'_ running though my head.

When she finally did calm down a little, she just said, "Ugh. Give me your clothes. I'll do it."

I sighed with relief. This was a win/win situation. Win, Ino didn't kill me. Win, my clothes would be all warm when I put then on next. And nice looking, too! "Thanks Ino." I said before running into my room and changing into a pair of pajamas temporarily.

"Only the sweatshirt and shorts," Ino said with her hand extended when I came back out. "I can't iron the jersey."

I handed over the items she'd requested, and then proceeded to sit back on my couch and wait for her. She'd been here enough times to know where the iron was and how to use it, so I didn't have any worries about that.

But that seriously made me wonder; why did we even have an iron? It's not like we ever used it. I mean, me and Jiraiya were men! Men don't iron. That just wouldn't be very man-like. So, again, _why did we have it?_

I guessed that it would just go under the category of 'those questions that will never be answered because no one would care about it long enough to find out'. Which is true - I'd probably forget all about it by the time the game rolled along, but still... for the moment, it made me wonder.

"Done!" Ino said, throwing the folded clothes on top of me and breaking me out of my reverie. I jumped a bit, surprised to see her standing there.

"Thanks," I said. Then, glancing at the clock for the first time since Ino had arrived, I noticed how late it was getting. Six forty-five! Fifteen minutes 'til we had to leave! I quickly made my way to my room, changing into my game gear and exiting once again. By the time I had grabbed a quick snack and picked up my water bottle again, it was almost time to leave.

"Ready to go?" Ino asked, noting that the time was now six fifty-five.

"Mhm," I nodded as I chewed my bagel. Yeah, Ino wasn't too pleased that I was eating a bagel for dinner right before a big game, but what could she do about it now? "Thanks for taking me Ino, you're awesome!" I said as we hopped in her car.

"I know." She smiled. As much as we bickered and fought with each other, we really were close. She was just like an older sister to me, the older sister I'd always wanted but never had. And, if I were being completely honest with myself, I was probably closer with her than I was with some of my other guy friends. She was one of the only people I could go to about anything, and she'd always give me good advice. I could always count on her.

"Hey, hey, hey, now, don't get conceited on me!" I joked.

"Me? Conceited?" She feigned disbelief. "Never!"

The car ride to school consisted of us laughing, Ino complaining about Sasuke's two biggest fan-girls (A set of pink-haired twins: Sakura and Karin), and me assuring her she was lucky they didn't know what Itachi. It was actually a great stress reliever; I couldn't be all uptight before a game like I had been the last couple of weeks.

When we finally pulled into the parking lot, which was still fairly empty since it was a half an hour until game time, I spotted a familiar face right away. "Sasuke!" I said, getting out of Ino's car and waving her off before I sprinted to where my friend was getting out of the passenger side of a car. He looked at me with an expression of surprise for only a moment before he realized who I was and turned back to getting his stuff. "Hey!" I said, patting him on the back when I got to where he was, "Are you pumped for the game? I'm pumped! Yeah, we're gonna kick all of their asses and -"

He raised an eyebrow at me, which killed my joy long enough for me notice who Sasuke was next to. I leaned down a bit to peer into the car, just to be sure it was who I thought it was. "Hey Itachi!" I waved. Yup, it was who I thought it was! "Are you gonna stay for the game?" I asked.

"Nii-san has better things to do." Sasuke said, trying to push me away, "Now would you stop annoying him so we can-"

"But he should come!" I protested, "C'mon," I said, turning back to Itachi now. "It'll be fun! You'll get to watch me and Sasuke beat the crap out of Suna! We're gonna be all awesome, and... And there'll be popcorn! Who doesn't like popcorn? I like popcorn! C'mon, it'll be so much fun!" I said really quickly, not even taking the time to organize my thoughts in my excited state. I probably sounded like a two year-old on a sugar craze. But then again, when did I ever try to organize my thoughts before I spoke anyway?

Sasuke just tried to push me away. "He doesn't want to come to one of our stupid ga-"

"I'll go," Itachi said it so quietly that both me and Sasuke weren't sure we'd heard it right. But in the end, he did say what we though he'd said.

"You will?" I asked, my smile widening and my voice sounding even more excited.

"You will?" Sasuke reiterated, only his variation sounded a lot more like disbelief than excitement.

"Sure," Itachi said, but left it at that.

Dumbfounded, Sasuke closed his door and Itachi pulled away to park. As Sasuke and I walked into the locker room to remove our sweatshirts and other non-necessities, I was pretty much bouncing off the walls. "Ahh, this is gonna be awesome! We're gonna lay the smack-down on Suna, and your brother's gonna be here to watch us, _and _there'll be popcorn and ohmygod, are you excited?" I basically yelled, jumping all around. He just rolled his eyes, sighed and continued on in his eerily graceful (and painfully slow) gait. Why wasn't he sharing in my excitement? He should be pumped! This night was gonna be one to remember! "C'mon Sasuke, where's your game face? Look alive!" I slapped his face lightly, as if to wake him up, before heading off to warm up.

Games always do this to me. Don't ask why. I've actually had Gai-sensei question my youthfullness on a game night: He was wondering if I was coming to the games high ("It will destroy your youthfullness Naruto! Do not fall pray to temptation!")

The answer, of course, was no. I just get really excited before a big game.

The team all put their hands together in the center of the dog pile not too long after, and we all broke will a loud yell of... something-or-other that was pretty much unintelligible to everyone. Who cares what we said? We had a game to play, we were all pumped! (Minus Sasuke, of course. But he doesn't count.)

After the dog pile, the bastard himself went to the center of the court and faced some guy from the opposite team; Suna. The ref stood in between the two of them but off-center, with the big orange ball in his hand. That was it, what we all wanted to get - the basketball.

Everyone on the court right now wanted that one ball, and only one person could have it at a time. And as that ball was thrown into the air by the ref, everyone on the court wished that that person would be them. And as soon as the ball was in the hands of someone, that's when everything would truly start...

It's game time.


	6. Chapter Six

**When I'm Sad, I Cut Myself... Another Slice of Cake. (Until The Cake Runs Out)**

XxX

"Don't... don't worry guys... Th-there's always next time...," Gai managed to choke out unconvincingly in between sobs.

We lost.

We _lost._

_We_ lost.

We lost to _Suna!_

Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable.

I blamed Sasuke for it. It was all that damn bastard's fault. He wasn't in the zone, and his pissy mo-jo screwed up all of the team's karma. Yeah. That had to be it. Because there was no way in hell that this was my fault. Sasuke had just been emo and stupid, and hadn't given the game his all. I had. So this was all his fault.

Yeah, so in reality, it was probably half my fault as well, but for the moment I was content with placing all of the blame on Sasuke. Mostly because no matter how mad at him I got, he just kinda stayed the same. Like he knew I'd eventually simmer down and leave him alone, but for now be just decided to bear it so as to not add fuel to the fire. That was very smart of him, now that I think about it.

But then, it really just pissed me off more. We had just lost a major game, and Sasuke didn't even care at all? What the fuck? He should have at least been sad, or angry, or something!

Again, no matter how much I yelled, he just shrugged and continued getting his things and throwing his team sweatshirt on. I did the same, yelling at him the whole time. I'm sure I sounded a bit ridiculous (and probably unintelligible as well) as I screamed at him with the article of clothing not even fully over my head. Whatever; I was angry and nothing else mattered at the moment except yelling at Sasuke.

Though just as the bastard probably predicted, I ran out of steam not too long after. My voice was sore, and I'd run out of swear words I could use to describe the situation. I was screwed all around.

"Are you finished?" Sasuke asked in that cocky-assed tone of his.

Unable to correctly voice an adequate response, I simply glared at him before turning fiercely away to grab my bag. That's when I noticed something on my phone; a new text message.

From Ino:  
_Sorry, had to leave early. Tell me how the game went, kay? And sorry about not being able to be your ride back :(_  
_Ask Kiba or Uchiha; I'm sure they'd be willing to help you out ;)_

Winky-face? What the hell, Ino? What the _hell _did the winky-face mean? Typo? Possibly. Let's go with that.

"What are you looking at, dobe?"

Startled by the sound of his voice so close behind me, I gasped and threw my phone up a good foot and a half out of surprise. "What the hell! Are you trying to make me drop my phone?" I asked, catching the object on pure reflex.

"Sorry." Sasuke rolled his eyes as he apologized for the intrusion, only saying it because he knew it was what I wanted to hear. Not because he actually meant it.

"Whatever." I responded. "So, Ino texted me. And, uhh," I put one of my hands behind my head sheepishly, unsure of how he'd answer my next question after the way I'd just treated him. "She said she had to leave early. And I saw Kiba leave with Hinata, and..."

"You need a ride," Sasuke finished for me.

I just nodded, my pride unable to cope with verbally accepting the fact that I was asking a favor of him.

Sasuke paused for a moment to think it over. "I'm sure Itachi wouldn't mind taking you home..." he paused for a moment again, turning his gaze to me as if to confirm himself. "Obviously he's taken a liking to you, so he wouldn't turn you down."

"Huh?" I asked, a bit confused. "Whatdaya mean?" Because that previous sentence did not sound suggestive **in the slightest**.

"I _mean,_" Sasuke rolled his eyes again, not happy that he had to keep explaining things to me. Well maybe if he wasn't so damn cryptic, I wouldn't need him to explain things. "He's never come to one of my games. I gave up asking him to halfway through last year's season. And all of a sudden _you _ask and his answer changes?" He stopped. It sounded like there should have been more, but he looked like he was thinking.

I was still confused, though. So I just stood there, waiting to see if he'd continue.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, as if to confirm his own thoughts. Well, that was certainly a bit weird. "He must've taken a liking to you."

Well, I guess that was a good thing. At least _one _thing about tonight turned out well.

"C'mon loser," Sasuke spoke up again, breaking me out of my thoughts, "Get your stuff and hurry it up. I don't want to leave Itachi waiting." Despite the words he spoke, I just couldn't bring myself to move and quicker than I was. I just... didn't have any drive left. In response to my sluggish and sloppy movements, Sasuke took it upon himself to throw my lightweight backpack in my face to get my attention. "I said hurry the fuck up. You're not still mad that we lost, are you?"

"Of course I am!" I yelled childishly. Hell, at the moment I didn't care about how much of a child I sounded like. "It was a major game and we just fucked it up! Why the hell aren't _you _mad?"  
He just shrugged, looking away. "It's just a game. So they won; big deal. We're still in the lead. Find something more pressing to be concerned with."

His nonchalant attitude really threw me for a loop; that was totally not Sasuke. At all. Sasuke would usually be brimming with barely-concealed anger after losing a game like this, not all dismissive. What was going _on _here? No matter what it was that had him all reversed, I still followed wordlessly after him when I noticed he had started walking away. When I did catch up with him, it was still eerily silent. When we opened the doors leading outside and the cold nighttime wind bit at our exposed skin, all that could be heard were the little bugs buzzing about and the leaves rustling. Pretty creepy, if you asked me. But still, I couldn't bring myself to say anything to break the silence. This was just a strange day all-around; me, not talking? Hardly even fathomable. And yet here I was, not talking as Sasuke lead me to his brother's car.

Okay, now it was starting to feel all weird. Sasuke was off in Sasuke-land and I was just left there, fidgeting and waiting for _something _to happen. I desperately wanted to talk just to alleviate the weirdness, but Sasuke's presence made me feel like... saying something would just increase the weirdness.

So, when I finally spotted Itachi's car parked in the lot, I did the only thing that came to mind; I ran to it. "Hey!" I called to Itachi, who had been looking down at the tiny glowing screen of a cell-phone prior to hearing my voice. With each step I moved away from Sasuke, I could feel the oppressing weirdness of the silence being lifted off of me. And it felt awesome, so I just kept running, probably looking like an idiot as I did so. Eh, Itachi wouldn't mind. Uchihas don't possess normal human emotions, so he's pretty much above feeling embarrassment or whatever.

When I finally reached the car, I tapped on his window for him to roll it down. He did it, with a single eyebrow raised at me. "Sooo what did ya think? We were awesome, right? Even though we lost... but whatever, only by four points. They still suck. It was all luck, I swear!" I shut up as soon as I began to feel that I was rambling. Before he even had a chance to answer though, I was talking again, figuring I should at least explain why I was there, "But, so, like, my ride ditched me. So I was wondering if-"

"Sure." Was all he said. It was in his normal detached voice, but something in that one word suddenly made me as happy as I had been prior to the game.

"Really?" I asked, feeling a smile light up on my face.

"Hn." Was all he said in response. Not that I was surprised that that was it, but at least it was a little response. With a nod in his direction, even though he could see because he wasn't looking at me, I opened the door to the backseat and got in just as Sasuke made it to the car. He climbed in the passenger side and closed the door before Itachi started the car.

As we pulled out of the parking lot and turned left, I was acutely aware of the fact that it was really, _really _quiet in the car. Damn these stupid Uchihas. Why were they always so silent? It made me feel all... awkward and fidgety. I just had to talk... walking was one thing, but in a car? I was gonna suffocate under all of the silence. "Sooo," I started, preparing to ask Itachi the same things I had before.

But he beat me to it. "You guys played well." It was completely flatline, and I had a feeling that he wasn't willing to say much more on the subject (damn, was complimenting someone really that hard?) but nonetheless, I was happy. If he had managed to say that much, then it _must _mean that he thought we were good. Even if the damn Uchihas were unable to correctly convey emotions, at least it was a start.

"But we lost." Sasuke simply stated.

"So?" End of conversation. Well, that was riveting. Seriously, that was pretty much the Battle of Monosyllables. Wow, let's see which one can talk less!

It didn't look like either one of them would be saying anything else any time soon. So I just sat there, fidgeting, while I waited for them to get to my house. Get this; Sasuke didn't even talk to give him directions. The bastard just _pointed._ Who the fuck does that? I was like he was just _trying_ to aggravate me!

When he finally did get to my house, I jumped out faster than you can say... well, it was pretty damn fast. "Thanks for the ride!" I waved before dashing up the front steps and unlocking the door to get in.

When I entered, it was dark - Jiraiya still wasn't home? I sighed and flicked on the lights as I put my stuff down on the couch. He was probably just trying to make some extra money, or got to work late this morning and had to make up the time. Great; so I'd just gone from one completely silent environment to another. Wonderful.

I plopped on the couch with a really deep sigh. I could always turn the TV on, but... I just didn't feel like it. For some strange reason, the silence just made me want to sit and wallow in my thoughts. Just like that, my positive view of 'It's just a game, it doesn't really matter' completely vanished from my mind and all I wanted to do was cry at the fact that we lost. Sure, even Itachi thought we played well... but we still _lost. _It just wasn't fair!

I fell sideways to lie down on the couch, sighing every couple of seconds at all the things I could have done differently. I no longer had any drive to move; I just wanted to sit there and sulk and not give a damn.

But then, suddenly, I _did _feel the drive to move - so I got up and made my way into the kitchen as if on autopilot. Food always makes everything better.

I opened the freezer first to see if we had- Aha! Jackpot. Ice cream. I reached out and grabbed a spoon from the drawer before tearing off the lid of the fattening deliciousness and eating it straight from the tub. While munching on that, I opened the fridge just to see if I had missed out on anything else. Oh yes. Just what every sulking child desires in his or her time of need - cake.  
Jiraiya must have brought some back from that thing he went to last night or whatever. And I couldn't be more thankful for that at the moment. But... there was only one piece left. Maybe I should leave it for... yeah, never mind.

That cake was mine.

XxX

_An hour later._

I groaned loudly as I rolled unto my stomach. Unfortunately, that didn't make my situation any better. I wonder why I had thought it would have... "Ooof!" I huffed out as I tried to sit up.

Man, this sucked. So much food... Never again. Ever.

It took me a few seconds to muster up enough strength to heave myself onto my feet, which is sad in and of itself. I'm a star athlete... not some fatass! But all of that food... oh no. No! This is just what Suna wants; to make all of the other players fat via depression! Genius, genius... why hadn't I realized it sooner?

"Waaahh, I feel so fat," I whined to no one in particular, since I was still alone in the empty house. Or... so I thought. "Whoa!" I yelled as I felt the furry being rub up against me. "Oh... Kyuubi, it's just you. Don't scare me like that, bud!" I rubbed his head, and he smiled in response. Or, that's what it looked like at least. You can never really tell with a dog. Or fox. Or whatever the hell Kyuubi is. I'm not really sure.

As I pet him, I suddenly realized that I hadn't spent at lot of time with him in the past couple of weeks... between school, homework, practice, and the art show, I hardly had any time to play with him. I felt the guilt well up and hit me like a ton of bricks, before I realized that the guilt wasn't just because I hadn't played with Kyuubi in a while. It was also coming from all of the crap I just ate... Dammit! Stupid guilt!

And then it hit me; I knew a way to remove the guilt from both!

I snapped my fingers quickly, startling Kyuubi, before running off to the closet and grabbing his leash. "C'mon boy! We're gonna go for a walk!"

XxX

Alright, so maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Since when was taking a stroll at eleven o'clock at night _ever _a good idea? The moon was bright enough for me to be able to see, and the streets were fairly empty... but still. Definitely not a good idea. I'd gotten a few strange window-glances, as if the people around here thought I was some weird stalker/murderer/rapist. I felt so bad for making them worry like that, but hey, a guy can take a walk, right?

As I kept walking though, I just thought it would have been better if I'd stayed home. It was late now, I wanted to go to bed, and even Kyuubi was starting to yawn. But we wouldn't be sleeping until we got back home, which would involve turning all the way around... Yeah. I groaned at that thought; we'd stop and take a break first. That way, it'll give me time to come to terms with the fact that I will eventually have to walk **all** the way back home.

I looked around myself quickly - good, I recognized my surroundings. And I knew from previous excursions that there would be a small playground near a child's recreation center somewhere close by... I would definitely be stopping there before heading back home.

I walked a few more feet and turned the corner before it was within my sight. As soon as I saw it, Kyuubi and I jogged lightly over to it just like when I was a kid and wanted to "claim" the swing set first. I walked through the small entrance and took in a big breath to regain my lost oxygen as I gave Kyuubi a pat on the head for running alongside me.

I looked up to make my way to one of the various rides to rest on when... well, let's just say I was _definitely _not expecting what I saw. I mean, what would you be thinking if you just saw a random silhouette standing out against the darkness of a child's play area? Probably stalker/murderer/rapist, right? I was just about to turn around and run for it but-

"Naruto?" A voice called from where the silhouette sat on the swing. And actually, my initial reaction wasn't "_Ohmygod, the stalker knows my name,_" but instead it was, "_Ohmygod, I know that voice!_"

"Umm..." I asked tentatively into the darkness. "Itachi?"

I moved a couple steps closer, Kyuubi growling with each synchronized step we took. When I got a bit closer, I saw that it was in fact Itachi and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I saw him nod, and I moved in to the swing next to him.

Kyuubi barked and growled, but didn't attack or come closer. I tried to shut him up, but he was really stubborn. He'd stop in a few minutes any way, so it's fine. "If I hadn't seen you almost have a heart attack just now, I would have accused you of stalking me." Itachi spoke up after a moment.

"I did _not_ almost have a heart attack!" I spat back. "I wasn't scared at all." Yeah. Right. Convincing myself was hard enough; I'm pretty sure he wasn't buying it either.

"Sure you weren't." He said back, with the lightest, _lightest_, hint of amusement present.

"What are you doing here so late?" I asked to try and keep the conversation rolling.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"You first."

Itachi stopped for a second, and I almost thought he hadn't heard me. But that couldn't be right; it was dead silent at this late hour, and I'm a very loud person (or so I've been told) so there's no way he could have _not _heard me. He just sat there, thinking, until he deemed it an appropriate time to talk. "I come here every night."

"Really?" I asked, a bit dumbfounded. It was really late; who would want to be at a park at this hour every night? "Why? I mean, I know you Uchihas are emo and all, but this is taking things to a whole new level!"

"It's your turn to answer," he said, completely ignoring my question (and insult).

Well, fine. He'd have to answer eventually though. So I just shrugged and answered his. "Well, it all started with losing the game... then I got sad and ate some cake. Then I felt guilty about eating the cake, and not walking my dog. Sooooo," I gestured toward myself. "Here I am."

"So I see." Itachi nodded intuitively.

Not surprisingly, it was silent for the next couple of moments. As I felt the silence closing in on me, I began to swing my feet and rock back and forth lightly. At least movement made the quietness seem less awkward. "So why don't you stay home at night like normal people?" I asked once the silence had become a bit too overbearing.

He simply shrugged, and for a moment I thought that would be all I was going to get. But then he spoke, "I don't really like being home."

"But doesn't Sasuke need you there? Since, uhh..." Shit. Foot in the mouth. Way to go Naruto, ripping open old wounds... I'd known that their parents had died tragically, and if it affected Sasuke as bad as it had, what could it have done to Itachi? Shit, shit, shit. Well, maybe I caught myself just in time... maybe he wouldn't realize what I had been about to say?

No, that would be impossible. But whether Itachi figured it out or not, he chose to dismiss it with another shrug. "It's easier for him when I'm not there." He said. "You saw yourself. He doesn't even like inviting guests over because he's afraid it might upset me. So it's best if I'm not there to hold him back from whatever he wants to do." His words were still spoken in the same offhand  
tone as always, but somehow the words felt... different.

Something was clearly going on between Itachi and Sasuke that I wasn't being told about. Right now obviously wasn't a good idea to try and figure this 'something' out, but I made a mental promise to myself that I would ponder it later, when I had more time.

"You don't know that," I said back. "Maybe he wants you to be home." Itachi just shook his head. Obviously he didn't want to say anything more on the subject, or maybe he just didn't want to talk, so I tried to switch up the subject. "Why here, though?"

"I came here a lot as a child," he said. "I never really let it go."

I nodded, not really liking the fact that he left no opening for a continuation. I looked up toward the sky, trying to count each of the stars I saw to occupy myself as the time passed. That's when I finally realized something. "Hey, Itachi?" he turned his head toward me. "I know we don't really know each other too well, and I know I can be a bit overbearing-"

"A bit?" Itachi cut in.

"-and I guess we got off on the wrong foot, with me annoying you and all, but... I was kinda just trying to get you to talk, not push you away..."

Itachi turned to me again, one eyebrow raised. "Your point...?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry for, uh, harassing you. I guess it was just... I guess _I _just wanted a friend."

"You have Sasuke." He pointed out.

I turned to him with a smirk on my face. "Is it considered selfish to want more than one?"

He seemed to contemplate it a moment before answering. "I suppose not."

I shrugged again. "You just seemed so much like Sasuke, and since Sasuke and I get along so well, I thought it'd be easy. I can see now, though, that you guys are _completely _different."

There was a light pause, in which neither of us said anything. A soft breeze rolled by, showering us with the cool night air to erase the tension.

"So," I started again after sensing his reluctance to speak. "Annoying-ness aside, would it really be so hard to consider me a friend?"

He turned his head to face me slowly, that single eyebrow still raised dubiously.

I just smirked back at him. "Humor me."

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Fine." He muttered. A small pause followed before he spoke again. "I know I've said this before, but you really do have an _interesting_ way of making friends."

I shrugged again in response. "Hey, it got the job done."

Itachi thought it over for a minute before nodding in agreement, which effectively lead us back into silence. But this time, I just let it pass. For once, I didn't feel the need to say anything more, and I knew Itachi wouldn't say anything either. So I just sat there, enjoying the silence, lightly swinging back and forth occasionally when I began to feel restless.

It wasn't until an hour later when I checked my phone that I noticed the time. "Oh shit!" I yelled. At that point, I jumped off of the swing and jerked Kyuubi's leash so that he woke up from the nap he'd been taking. Just as I was about to take off down the street, I turned back to Itachi. "Sorry, but I gotta go before Jiraiya bites my head off for being out so late!"

"Jiraiya?" Itachi asked, his eyebrow cocked.

"Yeah, my guardian," I responded before taking a few steps closer to the sidewalk. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow! Bye!"

"Naruto, tomorrow is Saturday." His voice had that patient, calm quality that you would use when explaining the days of the week to a toddler.

Screw him.

I stopped and threw him a grin. "I know. But you said you come here every day, right?"

Itachi just sighed and rolled his eyes as he understood what I was asking. He didn't say anything in response, but he waved and I nodded in return before darting back down the road to get to my house.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Don't Be Hating On My Skin Color! (Blue Fish Are People Too)**

Saturday. Blessed, sweet Saturday. No school, no basketball, no homework, no sadistic teachers, no annoyingly emo Sasuke, no nothing. If I wanted to, I could spend all day in bed, sleeping.

The thought was tempting. But unfortunately for me, several minutes after I woke up, my stomach decided to make itself known to the world. I tried for several minutes to get my stomach to shut up; all I really wanted to do was sleep, damnit! But my stomach was no going for that. The monster of hunger had been awakened. There was no going back now.

Sighing, I literally rolled out of bed, landed in a tangled mess of sheets on my bedroom floor, and spent the next five minutes trying to remove the blankets that had managed to capture me in a strangle.

Not the best way to start a morning, but who cared? It was a Saturday! Satur-fucking-day! Which meant for the next twenty-four hours, I was free to do whatever I wanted. Apart from going back to sleep (the universe was sending me strong signs that sleeping the day away was not going to be happening this weekend). But that was okay. I was awake now, and couldn't wait to see what this school-free morning would hold.

Yawning and mumbling to myself, I stumbled through the narrow upstairs hallway, and down stairs to the kitchen. The house was quiet. Too quiet. Jiraiya, is, in fact, a morning person (despite the fact that he doesn't seem like one). He just hates workday mornings. Normally on Saturday mornings, he would already be up, making coffee, reading the paper, feeding Kyuubi, making a lot of noise, whatever. Doing what he can't do all other five days of the week. And I guess, because I'm not a morning person, Jiraiya's weekend morning routine should have annoyed me. But it didn't. I think that's because I like having a pattern that I can fall back onto. Every Saturday, Jiraiya wakes up, makes breakfast, makes a lot of noise and tries to wake me up. I get up, come downstairs, we have a friendly fight/discussion, and then things go from there. Sometimes we go out and do stuff together, like a normal family. Other times we just laze around the house, and get on each other's nerves.

But today, that was clearly not going to be the case. The house was too quiet, too cold for another person (besides myself) to be around. Things must be really busy for him if he has to work on a weekend. I sighed, and meandered into the kitchen, my toes curling on the cold linoleum. Even Kyuubi wasn't around, but that didn't really mean anything. Jiraiya probably let him out earlier this morning. I swear to God that dog is half dingo, or fox, or wild something, because he enjoys spending time outside waaaaaaaaaaaay too much to be a normal domesticated dog.

Glancing around the barren kitchen, I noticed a note in Jiraiya's scrawling hand-writing propped against a box of doughnuts. Damn, that white-haired, toad-loving old man really knew how to get on my good side. Already tearing into the heavenly box, I looked down at the note, doing my best to decipher Jiraiya's handwriting.

_Kid,_

_Sorry, this has really been a busy week down at the station. Heard you lost the game last night; Temari was bragging about it all night since the minute her brother texted her the news. Bet you twenty bucks she'll still be at it today. Sorry I couldn't make it to the game, but I'm sure you played great. I'm gonna try and get off work a little early today, so if you're going anywhere, be home by five._

_-Some illegible scrawl that Jiraiya insisted was his signature-_

_P.S. Don't eat all the doughnuts._

Oh, yeah. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara's older sister, worked as a policewoman along side my guardian. By some strange twist of fate, her and Jiraiya had become 'friends'... Despite the fact that there was a thirty- something year difference between them. I've only met Temari a couple times, but she seemed pretty decent. A bit like Ino, actually. Loud, domineering, and a strict no-bull policy.

Speaking of Ino, I should probably check my phone to see if anyone from my friends had made plans for the rest of us today.

Shoving the rest of the doughnut into my mouth, and picking up another one, I made my way back up the stairs to my room, not really caring if I got crumbs everywhere. Kyuubi would take care of all that later, and anyways, us manly-men aren't too concerned with keeping the house clean.

Looking around my room, I realized it was kinda messy. Eh, whatever. It's not like anyone comes into my room expect for me, and I'm not bothered by the mess, so it doesn't matter. Still, I should at least try and bring the dirty dishes down to the kitchen or something. I don't really care about clothes on the ground, or papers everywhere, but I am bothered by bugs crawling around my room. Call me girly, but I just can't stand the thought of flies and centipedes or whatever living in my room along with me.

Picking up my phone, I finished off the second doughnut, and tried unsuccessfully to lick the glaze from my fingers. Yup, just like I suspected. Ino had sent out a text to all of us saying we should meet up at the mall for the day, and not to worry about money (she'd pay for food). Sounded fun. Especially if Ino was paying. She's an only child, so her parents spoil her. Not that she's bratty or anything. Ino is just used to getting what she wants.

I glanced over at the clock. Ino said to get to the mall around one, and it was twelve thirty now. If I was fast, and got to the bus station in ten minutes, I could get to the mall in time. Texting a reply saying I'd be there, I picked some clothes up from the ground, and pulled them on. As long as they were stain-free (and didn't smell) I didn't really care where the clothes came from.

Shoving my phone into my pocket, I grabbed the first pair of shoes I saw, slipped them on, and opened the door to let Kyuubi back into the house. I felt back about locking him in the house for the rest of the day, especially since he was going to be all alone, but I didn't really have a choice. If I left him outside, he might run away. Or someone might steal him. Which was **not **what I wanted. "Sorry buddy." I said, patting him on the head. Damn, that dog could make good puppy eyes. "Maybe we'll take another walk tonight or something."

And with that, I left. Staying behind any longer would have resulted in Kyuubi guilt-tripping me into sitting around the house with him all day. Okay, so I felt bad about leaving him alone, but not bad enough to cancel my plans.

The walk to the bus station, and the bus ride itself took a relatively short amount of time, thanks to my handy-dandy iPod. I'm sure I looked like the typical teenagers; earbuds in, cell-phone out, wearing the first thing I had grabbed off the floor, and a sullen look on my face. In reality, I wasn't trying to look sulky or anything. I was just deep in thought. Kiba is always telling me I look really pissed when I'm listening to my music and thinking. I don't know why that is. Maybe because I don't do a lot of deep thinking in the first place.

Whatever the reason for my angry-thinking face, I was still at the mall before I knew it. Thanking the bus driver (it always pays to be polite), I hopped down from the bus, and quickly made my way towards the mall. It was really cold outside; I hadn't realized how cold it was when I was walking to the bus station. See, more proof of the power of music! I had been so intent on listening to my music that I hadn't even noticed the temperature outside. Seriously, in the time it took me to walk from the street to the doors, I could no longer feel my fingers. And I already was wearing two pairs of gloves!

Still, always good to remain hopeful! Maybe it would snow or something. Yeah, and then we could have a snowday on Monday. With that cheerful thought planted firmly in my mind, I pushed the doors open, and was immediately assaulted by the noise of hundreds of people all talking at the same time.

Seems like my group wasn't the only one who had the idea of coming to the mall on the coldest fucking day of the year. Sighing, I pulled out my phone. There was no way I would be able to find Ino and the rest of the gang in this mess. Nah, I should probably just text them, and see where they wanted to meet -

"Naruto! Over here!" Or not. Somehow, Ino still managed to make herself heard over the ruckus. Turning, I saw her sitting at a table that was a part of "Sahoya's Sweet Treats". Stuffing my phone back into my pocket, I waved and made my way over to Ino.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked as I sat down in a chair next to her, looking around for the rest of the gang.

Ino handed me her smoothie, and propped her long legs up on the chair next to me, slouching slightly and folding her hands behind her head, her eyes focused on the ceiling. "Want some?" Without waiting for my answer, she continued. "Tenten and Shikamaru can't come; the roads outside of town are too icy. Kiba and Lee are checking out what movies are playing, Hinata and Neji said they were going to be a couple minutes late, and Gaara is buying fries." She hummed a little sung under her breath, apparently completely content with sitting there quietly, a fact that unnerved me. Ino must be having a bad day or something, 'cause she's almost never quite.

However, I decided to let Ino just do her thing and be quiet while I glanced around the mall, eyes seeking the familiar faces of my friends as I absentminedly sipped Ino's smoothie. Gaara was probably the easiest one to spot; his blood-red hair makes him stand out in any crowd, no matter how large. I found him almost right away. Kiba and Rock Lee were a bit harder to find, but then again, it didn't take long for me to find that annoyingly green jumpsuit clad bundle of youthfullness who called himself Lee. And with him was the face-paint loving Kiba. No sweat. We were all so weird that we basically stuck out in a crowd like a sore thumb (myself included).

Satisfied that I had found everyone, I turned my attention back to Ino. "Soooooo, what's up?" I asked her, not able to take the silence any long. I mean, jeesh! It was like being with Sasuke! "Why are you so down?"

Ino glared at me as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "That annoying, little, pink-haired twit Sakura had the nerve to call me a bitch early today!" She snapped angrily, and I was a bit surprised. Normally, things like that don't bother Ino; I mean, she gets called a bitch almost as many times as I get called annoying.

I didn't see why today would be any different. "And that made you angry because...?" I asked carefully, knowing that if I didn't proceed with caution, I was going to be bodily injured.

Sighing, she flopped back in her seat, all the fight having drained out of her. "I just think it's stupid when girls use that degrading slur against each other." Ino mumbled, folding her arms across her chest. "When a girl calls you a bitch, it's different from a boy calling you one."

I nodded, not really understanding (probably because I'm not a kick-ass, super feminist like Ino), but still feeling like I had to show I had been listening to what she was saying. When Ino fell silent again, I sighed, and began looking around the mall again. I love people watching. Probably because we're a society known for having very... odd looking people, to say the least.

A girl with hair kinda like Karin's was playing the flute and dancing in front of a store while people tossed money in a hat at her feet. A oddly cute couple (the girl had a paper flower in her blue hair, and the guy had more body piercings than any sane person should have), two people who's gender I wasn't entirely sure of (they both looked vaguely familiar; one had long brown hair and the other had white), Itachi and some really-frigging-tall-blue dude, a blond who-

Wait a minute! My mind had finally caught up with my eyes. Itachi at the mall? The UCHIHA Itachi at the mall? I may not have known him that well, but I was pretty positive that the words "Itachi" and "mall" would never go in the same sentence without a negative modifier.

And what was with that blue dude he had been talking with?

Immensely curious now, I quickly began scanning the crowds once again for that familiar pale white skin and black hair. Seriously, what would Itachi be doing at the mall?

"Um, Naruto... What are you doing?" Ino asked, clearly fearing for my sanity as I stood up on the chair, trying to maintain my balance while also find Itachi. I didn't bother answering her. I was always doing weird things like this. Ino should be used to it by now.

In the end, it was the giant blue guy who alerted me to where Itachi was. From this far away, I couldn't make out many details, but even so, Itachi looked way more relaxed and calm than I had ever seen him before. Clearly, him and the shark-guy must be friends, although not from school. That blue guy stuck out, in by our social standards. I definitely would have known if that blue guy had even gone to Konoha High while I had. My suspicions about them being friends were confirmed a couple minutes later when the blue guy slung an arm around Itachi's shoulder, and Itachi didn't shrug them off. Interesting. Very interesting.

Sadly, my Uchiha stalking was put to an end when the two entered a males clothing shop. Yawn. How boring. Of all the things fun thing you could do while at the were at the mall, shopping for clothes wasn't high on the list. Maybe they were shopping for Sasuke or something. Yeah...that was probably it.

As I sat back down in my seat, I noticed Ino's very confused expression. "I thought I saw someone I knew." I explained vaguely, as Ino's blond eyebrows travelled even high up her forehead. "I...uh... it was someone who you wouldn't really expect to see at the mall." I continued awkwardly.

Sighing, she shook her head (probably at my stupidity) and checked her phone. "Okay, so, Kiba and Rock Lee want to see something called 'Princess Gale and the Legend of Snow Island'-" here Ino snorted and rolled her eyes. "Do NOT ask me what possessed them to want to see such a lame sounding movie, but that's what they want. Gaara and Neji don't care, and Hinata will go along with anything." She fixed me with a piercing blue eye. "So, you're the tie-breaker. Yay or nay?"

As Ino knows, I'm horrible at making decisions, especially decisions that have a big outcome. "Um...uh...sure! Let's go see Princess Gale and the Whatnot of Whatnot!" I said nervously, smiling at Ino and hoping she wouldn't punch me.

But thankfully, she just rolled her eyes again, and started walking in the direction of the movie theater.

XxX

Despite the misleading name 'Princess Gale and the Legend of the Snow Island' turned out to be a pretty good movie. One of those action/adventure/romance movies that you say you hate, but actually made you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Come to think of it, even Ino approved of the movie. And if Ino approved of the movie, you know it has to be a good one.

After the movie, we hung around the mall; wandering around random stores, and basically just being a loud, annoying nuisance (a bit like the way people always tell me I act). Well, Ino and I were loud and annoying nuisances, with Kiba and Lee not too far behind. Neji and Hinata went along with us, but, like the perfect Hyuuga's that they are, the two remained respectful and silent.

That isn't to say that hanging around Neji and/or Hinata isn't fun. Hanging with them is just a bit more...subdued that hanging with Ino or Kiba.

Gaara...well, he was just being Gaara. I really can't say anything else. Sometimes he's loud, and other times he's quiet. I love him just as much as any of my other friends, but for the life of me, I can't figure him out. And this is saying something, considering I was the one who figured out **the**

Sasuke Uchiha!

Anyways, the entire time we were hanging around the mall, I kept my eyes peeled for Itachi and his blue giant of a friend. But I never saw them, which led me to believe that maybe I had imagined the whole thing. I didn't think so, but you never really know. Still, why would I have imagined seeing Itachi at the mall? That just didn't make any sense. It wasn't like I was constantly thinking about him or anything. Which could only mean one thing.

Odd as it may sound, I, Naruto Uzumaki, had seen the elusive and withdrawn Itachi Uchiha at the mall. With another guy no less.

This startling (rather disturbing and though-provoking) thought kept bugging me. I just couldn't figure it out. To the point of where my friends (Gaara, of course, was the first to pick up on it) picked up on the fact that I wasn't all there. And being the lovable idiots that they are, they (Kiba and Ino) decided that the reason I was so quiet was because I had a crush, and was day-dreaming about them. My friends then spent the rest of the time trying to figure out who it was.

This was a bit hard, considering the fact that I didn't have a crush in the first place.

By the time four thirty rolled around, I was almost glad to leave them.

"Guys! Guys! HELLOOOOO! Is anyone even LISTENING to me?" I yelled, waving my arms around my head wildly and trying to get the attention of my friends. You would think that when we're missing a couple of people (thus making our group smaller), we would be quieter. Oh no. It's like, the fewer people we have in our group, the louder we have to be. Science, or something like that I'm sure.

Finally, after doing what must have looked like the chicken dance on crack for several minutes, I managed to get the attention of my friends. Thank God. "Anyways, so, it's not like I don't love all of you and stuff, but Jiraiya said I had to be back five, and it's four thirty now, and it takes me half an hour to get home..." I blabbered, trying to explain.

As you could probably figure out for yourself, I'm not very good at goodbyes.

Gaara managed to put my blabberings to an end by raising one almost-invisible eyebrow. "Naruto," He said in that really hoarse and calm (creepy!) voice of his. "If you have to leave, then leave already. I know, I don't want you to leave either, because it's not like we're going to see each other ever again or anything." Oh sarcasm. Just one of the many languages that Gaara is fluent in.

Flashing him a grateful smile, I shrugged. "Yeah...so...yeah. I'll see you guys on Monday!" And with that, I left, waving to them all, and bracing myself against the freezing cold outside...which actually didn't make that much sense now that I think about it. Friday had been a lovely sixty degrees, and now it was fucking snowing?

Just more proof that God hates me, and wants me to be miserable.

The bus ride back to my house was basically the same as the bus ride from my house. I zoned out, and listened to my iPod, always keeping one eye open for my stop.

And wouldn't you just believe it, but as I was walking home, it started to snow. Like, legitimately snow. Little, frozen, water crystals falling from the sky, and making my trek back to the house even colder. The only thought that kept me going was by the time I got home, Jiraiya might actually have started dinner. And it might be something other than frozen food/left-overs/week old take-out!

Trust me, when you've been living on the above stated foods for the past month, you're willing to do basically anything for real, honest-to-goodness food.

And maybe because God doesn't hate me as much as I originally thought, or something like that, but when I opened up the front door, it became very clear that Jiraiya actually was cooking. Real food. It was like a dream come true!

"Hello!" I called, more for the sake of saying something than anything else. Reaching down, I gave Kyuubi a couple pats on the head, then made my way towards the kitchen. "So, what's for dinner?"

Jiraiya, who's attention was focused solely on pouring the right amount of pasta into the boiling water (harder that it sounds, trust me), didn't answer right away. It was only after the top had been placed back over the pan did he turn around and answer me. "Spaghetti."

He is clearly trying to get on my good side, because I ADORE spaghetti! "Really?" I asked, jumping out of my seat, and racing over to the oven top, just to make sure he was telling the truth.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "No kid, I'm lying, and we're actually having liver and cabbage for dinner." He laughed at the crestfallen expression on my face. "Of course we're having spaghetti. Now, do something useful for a change, and set the table."

I was too happy to be insulted by his insult. "Spaghetti, spaghetti, I love spaghetti!" I chanted as I cleaned off the table, and set down cups, plates and forks. I'm sure Jiraiya thought I was acting like an idiot, but I honestly didn't care. In my world, there are only two things better than spaghetti, and they are sleeping, and basketball.

Everything else I could live without.

Dinner was nice, and not just because we were having the best food known to humans. I forgot what it was like to actually sit down with someone at a fucking table, and eat at the same time, while also making polite, pleasant conversation.

Or, rather, in Jiriaya and my case, stuffing our faces full of food, grunting and gesturing when we wanted something, and dissing each other mercilessly. Really, dinner was a thing of beauty that night.

And it wasn't until I was laying in bed, trying not to think about how much homework I would have to do tomorrow that I realized I still had to solve the 'Uchiha Itachi Spotted At The Mall' mystery.

XxX

**A/N: Because Jiraiya would be a good policeman! ...Actually, that's not true, and if you think about him being a policeman for too long, you kind of want to bash your own brain in with a rusty shovel. But the dialogue in previous chapters was vague enough while at the same time not leaving open a lot of options. So yes. I made him a policeman. Just nod and keep smiling.**

"**Princess Gale and the Legend of the Snow Island"? Yup, that's totally a canon-reference. Kudos to you if you figure it out.**

**And I'm sorry, I seem to be doing a lot of Sakura-bashing in this story. I'm not sure why that is, but I assure you, it's not intentional.**

**I'm also sorry for the long wait on an update. But this is what you should expect, length-wise, for the amount of time between my updates. Just saying.**


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